The website was an imposter site, and the scammer used her banking details and codes to set up access to her bank account using the bank’s app and transferred $40,000 from her account. Audrey asked her bank to reimburse her, but it declined, saying she had either breached the terms and conditions of her account by sharing her banking details or failed to take reasonable steps to protect her banking.

Our investigation

The Code of Banking Practice requires banks to reimburse customers for unauthorised transactions provided they have taken reasonable steps to protect their banking and complied with the bank’s terms and conditions. We did not consider Audrey met either of those grounds for being denied reimbursement. We considered it reasonable for her to believe she had been taken to the bank’s website. She had logged in to what she believed was her internet banking, and she had not willingly shared her banking details with the scammer.

Outcome

The bank agreed to reimburse Audrey the $40,000.