Suncorp ‘spoofing’ scam cons couple expecting triplets out of $50,000

A couple expecting triplets who were frantically saving to support their three children have been conned out of $50,000 after falling victim to an elaborate scam.

Canberra couple Jasmine Bourchier and Daniel Josifovski were robbed of their life savings after a person claiming to be from Suncorp called them and warned them their account had been compromised.

The couple revealed the scammer had called them from the same number as their bank and they had no reason to believe they were being scammed.

They were told their account had been hacked and that they needed to immediately move their funds to another ‘secure’ one.  

‘The day that we discovered the funds were gone was the day we were meant to be celebrating the milestone of making it through the first trimester of my triplet pregnancy,’ Ms Bourchier told the Courier Mail.

‘We’re going to be first-time parents and prior to this happening, we were unsure as to whether we could financially support three children at once.’

Ms Bourcheir said she was upset at the response from Suncorp, claiming it took the bank at least two weeks to take their complaint seriously.

She said she was told by the bank there was a nine out of 10 chance that she would never see her money again.

The money had been transferred into a Commonwealth Bank account  with the couple claiming Commonwealth was equally unhelpful and referred them back to Suncorp.

A Suncorp spokeswoman said the bank was ‘aware’ of scammers contacting their customers.

‘As soon as we became aware of this, we notified all Suncorp Bank customers via our app, internet banking, social media and website of this particular scam, and to be alert should they receive these types of text messages or phone calls,’ she said.

‘We also engaged the telephone service provider and Australian Communications and Media Authority to have the numbers used by these scammers disconnected.’

Daily Mail Australia contacted Suncorp for comment.  

Ms Bourchier and Mr Josifovski are the latest couple to fall victim to the elaborate Suncorp ‘spoofing’ scam.

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‘Spoofing’ is when the scammer uses what appears to be the correct mobile and landline numbers for a reputable company.

Brisbane couple Michael and Rachel Jorgensen had no idea they were about to be  conned out of $78,198 when they received a call from what appeared to be Suncorp’s Brisbane landline number on November 13.

The person, speaking with a British accent, claimed the couple’s Suncorp account had been compromised and that they needed to immediately transfer their money to a new one.

Ms Jorgensen was asked a series of security questions on the phone, but still harboured doubts the call was coming from an actual bank teller.

The scammer then told her to cross-reference the number he was calling from and Ms Jorgensen traced it back to what appeared to be Suncorp’s Brisbane landline. 

They were then sent two-step verification texts from the same number used by Suncorp as they transferred the money into the new account.

‘It took three transactions to empty the account of $78,198,’ Mr Jorgensen said.

‘He then told us to delete the Suncorp banking app and re-log on to show the new account, and he hung up. The phone went dead.’ 

The Jorgensens immediately called Suncorp and were informed by an employee they had just become the victims of an elaborate scam. 

Mr Jorgensen described the bank’s response as ‘hopeless’ saying Suncorp offered $100 to the family so they could buy groceries for their children. 

The fraud team eventually found the money had been transferred into three different Commonwealth Bank accounts and managed to retrieve $21,000.