Bendigo Bank is taking proactive steps to help small and medium-sized businesses across Australia identify and prevent scams.
Recently, the bank shared the story of a Victorian construction company that narrowly avoided losing $938,600 in a false billing scam last month.
“In the financial year ending 30 June 2023, Bendigo Bank stopped $38.6 million in fraudulent transactions or around $105,000 per day, and this is just one occasion where we were able to stop a scam in its tracks,” said Jason Gordon (pictured above), head of customer protection at Bendigo Bank.
A Bendigo Bank business customer in Victoria recently fell victim to a payment redirection scam.
After completing a job for a local supplier, the business emailed the construction company with draft invoices for verification. Shortly thereafter, they received an invoice with altered banking details and a message explaining a supposed change.
The email appeared legitimate, coming from the supplier’s account and signed by the supplier’s director. Trusting the invoice, the customer paid the amount, unaware it was directed to a scammer who had compromised the supplier’s email.
The genuine supplier alerted the customer when they didn't receive payment, leading both parties to discover the discrepancy in account details.
The victim quickly contacted Bendigo Bank, and thanks to the swift actions of the customer protection team, $897,083 – more than 95% of the lost amount – was recovered.
“This example highlights the bank’s strengthened ability to rapidly recover funds, and the importance of acting quickly when something doesn’t look or feel right,” Gordon said. “That said, prevention is better than the cure, so we urge customers to stop, think, and protect.”
Bendigo Bank urges customers to:
“These scams often exploit vulnerabilities in email providers’ security controls,” Gordon said. “Bendigo Bank advocates for a cross-sector approach to scams prevention, focusing on improvements at the scam’s origin.”
Business email compromise is increasingly common, with small businesses such as lawyers, real estate agents, and building companies being frequent targets.
The National Anti-Scam Centre reports that false billing scams were the second most common scam reported last year, with Australians losing $16.2 million to payment redirection scams.
False billing scams, as demonstrated in this case, are a prevalent form of business email compromise, according to Gordon.
“It’s common for scammers to impersonate individuals within a business to redirect payments or place fraudulent orders,” he said.
Bendigo Bank launched its face-to-face education program in September to help customers navigate online banking safely. More than a thousand customers and community group members have since been equipped with the knowledge to better protect themselves online.
For businesses and individuals who may have fallen victim to a scam, Gordon advises visiting Bendigo Bank Security immediately for support and to report the incident.
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