Woman loses $730,000 after one scam email while buying property

A woman in the process of buying property has lost $730,000 after scammers pretended to be her settlement agent in an email.

A woman has lost more than $700,000 after opening an email from scammers.

The West Australian woman was in the process of buying a property in Perth last month, when she received what she thought was an email from her settlement agent, who had asked for money to be deposited into a bank account prior to settlement.

There were “authentic-looking documents” attached, but devastatingly, the whole thing turned out to be fake.

The scammers used a generic Hotmail email address with the agency’s name and included bank account details to an account they had control over. They stole $732,000.

Consumer Protection WA said the email communications between the homebuyer and settlement agent had been hacked by the scammers, and that the real settlement agent had earlier reminded the buyer about making the payment.

Scammers have stolen $730,000 from a woman by pretending to be her settlement agent. Picture: Getty Images

The scams are known as payment redirection scams or “man in the middle” scams.

It involves scammers pretending to be a legitimate company and seeking payment. The sophisticated scam is often impossible to tell apart from the real thing.

Consumer Protection said they often target high value financial transactions such as real estate purchases and business contracts.

Nine WA victims, including this woman, have reported losing a total of $1,015,129 so far this year to payment redirection scams. Three of the victims were involved in property transactions.

Only two of 37 victims had some money recovered after payment redirection scams last year. Picture: iStock

Last year, 37 victims reported losing a total of $1,013,278 with eight victims involved in property transactions. Only two victims recovered $287,407 of their losses.

“These scams usually involve the hacking into someone’s email account or computer system but it can be difficult to determine exactly where the hack has occurred,” Consumer Protection executive director Trish Blake said.

“The hackers may have successfully guessed the password or installed spyware or malware on computers or laptops after recipients open attachments or click on links in scam emails.

“The losses from these scams can be extremely devastating to the victims who may have lost their home deposit that they have been saving for many years and may not be able to buy the home of their dreams. Or it may be a business doing it tough that can least afford to lose such a large amount of money.”

Australians are urged to verify the sender of emails requesting payments or changing bank account details.

This can be done by checking the email letter by letter (as scammers may make a small change to the real email) and calling the sender with a number you had previously (not from the scam email) or visiting their office in person.

Originally published as Woman loses $730,000 after one scam email while buying property