Bank reimburses life savings of elderly depositor with dementia after he lost it all in a scam

In today's world of complex technology, scammers thrive by stealing people's money through fraudulent practices using these devices. Old people are notably vulnerable to such practices and can even lose their entire life savings over time to scammers. A 78-year-old man, Alex Shaw, who was recently diagnosed with dementia, fell prey to such a scam, losing roughly $294,814 after revealing his banking information to scammers. Thankfully, the bank reimbursed the money owing to corporate responsibility in the event of a personal tragedy.

The incident came to light when he visited a nearby branch of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) with his son Victor Shaw to report the scam. His son was aware that most banks did not reimburse individuals who were scammed unless they felt that the transaction was something that the bank could have prevented. He spoke to ABC News AU about his father's condition: "Day to day, he's kind of fine. But that higher-level paperwork kind of stuff, like managing finances, was just really beyond him. Getting the straight narrative as to what had happened, I couldn't really work it out."

Thankfully, the old man had routinely documented information whenever he talked to the scammers. These notes included dates, names and specific details of conversations whenever a stranger had contacted him. In one instance, Alex was asked to purchase hundreds of dollars in Apple gift cards at the supermarket and then share their serial number with someone in Thailand. In another instance, he was asked to transfer some money into a cryptocurrency account.

His notes also hint towards online links that promised to give out thousands of dollars in grant money. They also revealed the scammers using "AnyDesk" software. Victor later found out that the software was used by hackers to be able to access devices remotely. According to him, the scammers primarily relied on this software to steal his dad's hard-earned money.

The bank had a fraud detection system that blocked the account after many suspicious transactions took place. However, the account was reactivated soon, which allowed the scammers to steal more until nothing was left. The scammers had persuaded Alex to get his account working again, but he did not realize what he was in for.

His son submitted a complaint to the bank but didn't think they would take it up. An individual representing the bank even told him that chances were minimal for the bank to reimburse the amount. After three months, Victor got an email from the bank.

It stated, "Following our review of this matter... ANZ recognizes that it could have done more to support Mr. Shaw given his history with scams." They also went on to account for the man's condition and how such a financial loss would impact him. Saying this, they stated that they would return transactions totaling AUD 460,174.04 (approximately $295,641.11).

Victor was in awe of the way everything turned out. Reflecting on the bank's gesture, he said, "Every single person I've spoken to about this has been very surprised and it was not what we were expecting at all. We thought we might get a few thousand dollars back or something. But it's an incredible relief."