Fraud & scams,

In 2024, Arabella bought two shipping containers for $10,000 from a company via Facebook. She researched the company first to confirm it did, in fact, sell shipping containers and then made two payments of $5,000 through her internet banking. The following day, the recipient bank contacted Arabella's bank to say its customer had potentially received funds obtained as a result of a scam. Arabella’s bank called her and asked whether she had bought or received any goods in recent days. Arabella explained about the containers, adding that she had become worried about the purchase because the company was now asking for more money to complete the purchase. Arabella asked the bank to stop the payments. It said they had already left her account, but it would contact the recipient bank to see whether it could retrieve them and then call her back. The bank did not call back, and Arabella had to follow up with the bank. She eventually learned she had been scammed. The company was not legitimate, but rather a front for a scam. The bank was unable to recover any of her money. Arabella complained that the bank should have seen that the payee name she had entered did not match the account number. She asked the bank to reimburse her $10,000. The bank refused.

November 2024