Two South Australian property buyers have been defrauded out of nearly $1 million by scammers using bogus email details to pose as conveyancers. READ MORE

The institute’s South Australian CEO Rebecca Hayes said the scammers sent fake emails to conveyancers’ clients last week with instructions to send large sums of money for their property settlements.

Fortunately the purchaser’s bank involved in the first transaction of $400k was able to put a stop on the transaction and retrieve the funds, but this is an exceptional outcome and as I understand it a very lucky result. READ MORE

This issue of deposit fraud is one of global concern and we advise all consumers and businesses to take care when transferring large sums of money.

What could have been done to prevent this? A better payment policy? Demanding bank cheques? A phone call?

The best answer is take a position and undertake tangible actions on cyber security risks.

We all need to change banking behavior from thoughtless to thoughtful, starting with using a secure browser to conduct your online banking. Even with 2 factor authentication, hackers can target your weakest link; your computer. BankVault’s SafeWindow helps you browse the internet, do your banking and shop online using secure web browsing that is invisible to hackers. SafeWindow launches a ‘virtual machine’, which self‐updates each time you login, providing security against ransomware and malware attacks.  Your online activity will remain completely anonymous to cybercriminals, as it is all hidden in the cloud, completely separated from your physical computer and the threats that target it.

We also found this video being offered in United States to educate people on this risks of “Wire Fraud” as it is known in the US.