Brisbane family lose $40k house deposit after scammer hacks into email chain

A Brisbane family have issued a warning after losing their $40,000 house deposit to a “local” scammer who hacked into an email thread between them and their lawyer.

David and Christine Rose and two of their children.

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A Brisbane family has been scammed out of their $40,000 house deposit just days after slapping a “sold” sticker on their dream home.

Christine and David Rose, from Warner, and their four children faced losing seven years of hard work, when delivering the final instalment of the deposit for their first home together.

The scammer hacked into an email thread between the couple and their conveyancing lawyer.

Mrs Rose said that the emails looked incredibly legitimate and were signed with the same email signatures and letterheads and were sent from their lawyer’s familiar email address.

“We definitely thought it was the lawyers who reminded me that the deposit for our house was due, I paid the $40,000 into the account details they gave me,” Ms Rose said.

Mrs Rose said her family saved the $40,000 deposit over seven years.

“I don’t know how the scammers were able to impersonate our lawyer and join the email chain.”

Mrs Rose said just a few days after transferring the money she realised she hadn’t been dealing with her lawyer.

“It is absolutely gut-wrenching,” Mrs Rose said.

“We have six kids between us, four who live with us, and are buying our first home together after 13 years of marriage and seven years of saving.”

Ms Rose said her rental was for sale, and her family’s lease would expire in three weeks.

“We’ve had open homes every second weekend because the rental is selling, it’s affected the whole family,” Mrs Rose said.

“Dave’s an absolute wreck, I’ve never seen him so upset … He finds it hard to even talk about it.

“It’s so beyond words and unbelievable that this has happened, it’s 14 days until settlement.”

Mrs Rose said she no longer trusted any emails.

“I feel extremely violated that the hacker knew our deposit was due,” Ms Rose said.

“I’m now nervous to do anything online because I don’t know if they’re secure anymore.

“It could happen to anyone.”

Mrs Rose reported the scam to her bank, the scammer’s bank and to the Queensland Police Cyber Crime Department.

“The bank has only been able to recover $3000 of our money,” Mrs Rose said.

“We’ve managed to borrow another $40,000 to secure the house but this will have severe financial impacts.

“The scammer’s account was opened at a West End branch so we know they’re local.”

The family has started a fundraising page to help them through the ordeal.

Originally published as Brisbane family lose $40k house deposit after scammer hacks into email chain