The online partner who turned a bank account into a money tunnel.
A woman in her fifties, recently widowed, met a man on a dating app who said he was a marine engineer working offshore. They spoke every day for four months.
Read this case →Before you move that money, know whose money it is.
Describe what’s happening — the messages, the deposit, the request to pass it on. We name the pattern it matches, rate the risk, and tell you exactly who to call in Australia tonight. Free, anonymous, and no substitute for your bank’s fraud line.
Money already gone?
Ring your bank on the number printed on the back of your own card before you read anything else here. Transfers can sometimes be stopped in the first hours and almost never after that. If you are in danger, ring 000. Free, independent help with the aftermath: IDCARE 1800 595 160.
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Six ways money arrives before the trouble does
Different pitches, one mechanism: your account receives money that isn’t yours, and you are asked to move it on.
Money mules
Someone else’s money, moving through your account, in your name.
You keep a small cut. The bank keeps the whole record. When police read that record, the name on it is yours.
See what this means for you →Romance scamsThe person who loves you needs your bank account.
Months of messages, then one small favour: receive this money, and send it on. The romance was the recruitment.
See what this means for you →Remote-access “refund” scamsThey refunded you too much. Now they want the difference back.
The extra money on your screen came from another victim — or from your own savings, moved between your own accounts while you watched.
See what this means for you →“Quick cash” job scamsThe job is real money. The employer is not.
No interview, no ABN, no office — just your bank details and $500 a week to “process payments” from home.
See what this means for you →Student scamsThe ad on the campus noticeboard only needs your bank account.
International students are targeted hardest, because a visa condition makes the threat of “trouble with the authorities” do all the work.
See what this means for you →Diaspora-targeted scamsThe call comes in your language, from someone who knows your paperwork.
Fake embassy fines, fake immigration officers, fake remittance agents — the trust of a shared community, used as a tool.
See what this means for you →The week’s scams, before they reach you
What the desk saw this week, which patterns are spreading in Australia, and what actually stopped the money.
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The national scam alert feed
Current warnings issued by the National Anti-Scam Centre, including the impersonation and job-offer campaigns running in Australia right now.
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