Two weeks later he became suspicious about the investment and phoned the bank where he had sent the money. He said he wanted to check whether the account into which he had deposited his money was legitimate, and also whether the account name matched the name he had been given. The bank said it could not tell him anything about the account or whether it was linked to the Australian bank. A month later, Ernie discovered his suspicions were well founded and that he had been scammed. The account was not linked to the Australian bank, and the funds had been withdrawn almost immediately. Ernie was unable to recover any of his funds. He complained to the bank that it had misled him when he called. He said that telling him the account was legitimate had led him to believe there was nothing to be worried about. He said he would have had a better chance of recovering his money if the bank had uncovered the scam when he called. He was unable to resolve the matter with the bank and asked us to investigate.

Our investigation

We listened to the call between Ernie and the bank and we were satisfied the bank had acted appropriately. It was unable to disclose information about its customer to Ernie and had clearly and correctly pointed this out to Ernie. It did confirm the account number was legitimate. However, it had also said he should contact the Australian bank directly or the Serious Fraud Office if he had any concerns about the legitimacy of the investment. As it turned out, the bank subsequently provided information confirming the account name did match the one he had been given.

Outcome 

We did not uphold Ernie’s complaint.