Bank not liable for money sent to fraudster...

The Banking Ombudsman has rejected a customer’s complaint after $580,000 was sent to an online scammer over 12 months.

The complainant had power of attorney over her father’s accounts and his banking token for two factor identification.

She fell victim to a scam and sent off 21 overseas payments.

The Ombudsman held that the bank had no reason to suspect a scam, it was not obliged to monitor payments and as the father had provided his authentication token the bank had not breached any of its policies.

As the money had been moved out of the account it was sent to there was no way to recover the funds and the father was out of pocket with no recourse against the bank.

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Alan Knowsley