A 78-year-old Australian man with dementia had his life savings reimbursed after being scammed.
According to the Good News Network, Alex Shaw had been preyed on by a gift card scheme.
After his son Victor realized the issue, the two went to his New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) branch to alert them.
While most banks are not liable to reimburse scam transactions, the bank determined employees should have recognized the suspicious activity and agreed to refund him his life savings of $460,174.04.
The bank sent him a letter noting, “Following our review of this matter… ANZ recognizes that it could have done more to support Mr. Shaw given his history with scams.”
“Considering Mr. Shaw’s vulnerability and the impact the scam has had on him, we will reimburse the scam transactions totaling $460,174.04,” it concluded.
Shaw’s good fortune is also due to the fact that he took detailed notes during the transaction.
He recorded how the scammers asked him to buy Apple gift cards and share the serial numbers to a phone number in Thailand or click links supposedly to offer them grant money.
The notes repeatedly referenced a service called “Anydesk,” this is a scam company that repeatedly deducted various $10,000 and $25,000 payments from Alex’s account.
The bank had initially blocked these deductions, but the scammers had coached Shaw into calling the bank to reactivate his account so they could drain it.
His son noted it took three months for the bank to make the decision.
He described Shaw’s condition, noting, “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,” he added.
Bank representatives have warned that family members of people with dementia need to take proper precautions to ensure financial management security.