How NAB’s ‘mistaken identity’ bungle gave Berwick dad access to stranger’s cash

A Berwick man was granted access to a stranger’s bank account, containing half a million dollars, in a shocking case of mistaken identity caused by “human error”.

Baljit Singh was mistakenly granted access to a stranger’s half a million dollars in a shocking banking bungle by NAB. Picture: David Crosling

A Berwick dad was mistakenly granted access to a stranger’s half a million dollars in a shocking banking bungle caused by “human error”.

Baljit Singh told the Herald Sun the blunder occurred last week when he was setting up his internet banking with National Australia Bank.

“I recently settled new land and it was my first time with NAB,” he said.

“I was trying to register my netbanking but there were issues with my password and phone number so I went into the branch and gave them my licence and my NAB bank card.”

Mr Singh said he discovered the error when he logged into the bank’s app about 30 minutes later.

“When I opened the account using my own password, I realised it was not mine,’ he said.

“The man whose account it was had the same name as me but different spelling.

“There was more than $500,000 in cash and $2m in liability.”

Mr Singh said he had access to the stranger’s money for four days. Picture: David Crosling

In a video, seen by the Herald Sun, Mr Singh had full access to the stranger’s 16 separate accounts for four days.

The honest citizen said he did not touch any of the cash and flagged the issue with NAB.

“I thought it was going to be automatically corrected, I thought they were going to rectify it straight away but they didn’t,” he said.

“When I told NAB, they were surprised and said it was entirely the bank’s mistake.”

NAB retail executive for Victoria Mil Kairouz said the blunder was caused by human error.

“We take our customers’ privacy extremely seriously,” he said.

“This was an isolated issue of mistaken identity and human error and we’re sorry that it happened.”

Mr Kairouz said NAB had contacted both customers involved.

“As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we took immediate steps to ensure the accounts were only visible to and accessible by the correct customer,” he said.

NAB is one of Australia’s big four banks. Picture: Brendon Thorne

“We have been in touch with both customers to apologise for our error.”

Mr Singh said he was concerned the breach occurred at a big four bank.

“I feel for the man whose accounts were exposed,” he said.

“NAB is such a big bank, I don’t know how this happened. It’s hard to trust any bank now.”

It is not the only recent banking bungle in Victoria.

In August, a Melbourne man was jailed for three years after he went on a spending spree with more than $6m that was mistakenly transferred into his partner’s bank account from a cryptocurrency website.

Jatinder Singh, who is not related to Mr Singh, told his partner to transfer the cash from her Commonwealth Bank account to their shared bank account before the transaction could be reversed.

The pair bought two properties and gifted $1m to a friend.

Originally published as How NAB’s ‘mistaken identity’ bungle gave Berwick dad access to stranger’s cash