‘Embarrassing conversation’: Ben Fordham targeted in Only Fans fraud

The 2GB presenter revealed he noticed an unusual charge on his travel card account, prompting an “embarrassing conversation”.

Radio presenter Ben Fordham has been targeted in an Only Fans bank fraud incident.

Fordham revealed he noticed an unusual charge on his travel card while trying to transfer funds from the card to his regular Commonwealth Bank account.

“I said, ‘Look, I’m not going to be using (the travel cards) for a while. If I can transfer any of the leftover funds into my normal account, that’d be great,” Fordham said on 2GB on Tuesday morning.

“But when I brought up the screen, I saw the words ‘Only Fans’.”

Ben Fordham has been caught up in an ‘Only Fans’ bank fraud incident. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

He explained Only Fans was an adult subscription website, often used by sex workers, where people “pay money to see (content creators) with (their) gear off”.

“So, I had this embarrassing conversation with a lovely gentleman behind the counter where I said, ‘Look, could you just go back to that page? I saw the words Only Fans there’, and he was pretending like he didn’t see it,” Fordham said.
“And it was that uncomfortable moment where I said to him, ‘Look, I’m sure you hear this all the time, but I swear I have not spent any money with Only Fans’.”

Fordham suggested travel cards were targeted, as people didn’t check the balance as often. Picture: NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Fordham was then told he’d been targeted by scammers who’d tried to charge his travel card $50 for Only Fans twice.

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn told Fordham he hoped the experience wasn’t “too awkward or embarrassing” but noted his situation was considered to be “garden variety fraud”.

“I’ll differentiate between a fraud and a scam, in so far as you, as the account holder, had no involvement in that actual transaction,” Mr Comyn said.

“It was undertaken by another third party … so that’s in your sense, that’s an easier problem to deal with because you had nothing to do with it, you’ll be covered by our fraud guarantee and our ability to be able to reverse and give you back all of your funds.”

Fordham suggested travel cards were targeted as people didn’t check the balance as often, with Mr Comyn urging Australians to remain vigilant.

“(Travel cards) is something that people will target, is something that isn’t checked as frequently, and unfortunately we all need to be really alert to all sorts of different types of frauds and scams,” Mr Comyn said.