When Ken’s son came home later that day, Ken told him what had happened and his son realised his father had been scammed. Ken’s son called the bank, and it suspended his father’s accounts and tried to recover the funds, but managed to get back only $1,000. Ken said the bank had not taken prompt, appropriate steps to recover his funds. The bank offered him $24,500 (half of the amount lost, minus the amount recovered), but he was still not satisfied and asked us to investigate.

Our investigation

We learned that the scammer moved Ken’s money from the second account at his bank to yet another account at another bank. The money had left his bank and gone to the second bank account, and then the third account, by the time his son called. Ken considered his bank had not frozen the second account fast enough once notified of the scam, but by then it was already too late: the money had gone. However, his bank did not contact the other bank until two days later, and it was entirely possible that faster action could have resulted in the recovery of more funds. However, the bank said the amount it was offering Ken was much higher than the amount it could potentially have recovered from the account at the other bank.

Outcome

Ken accepted the bank's offer.