How a hopeful homeowner lost $50,000 after just one phone call from HSBC scam artist - and the one sign that made her realise she was being duped

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A young woman was left devastated after she lost $50,000 she had been saving for a deposit on a new home in a banking scam.

Melbourne woman Julie Khoo answered a call at work she believed was from HSBC in October 2023.

Minutes later two transactions drained a total of $50,000 from her account.

Ms Khoo has been a loyal HSBC customer for over 10 years and the heartbreaking scam came shortly after the death of her father just three months earlier.

In October 2023 Julie Khoo answered a call at work she believed was from the HSBC fraud department

Two transactions drained a total of $50,000, her daily transfer limit from her account

She said the 'well-spoken' caller claimed he was from HSBC's fraud team and was alerting her of suspicious activity on her account.

The con-artist on the other side of the phone spent 30 minutes convincing her the call was legitimate, providing details only her bank would know.  

Ms Khoo was asked for her passcode to prevent a fraudulent transaction, with the caller stressing they needed the information 'right now'.  

Her daily transfer limit of $50,000 was then stolen from her account.

Ms Khoo realised something was wrong when the caller asked for her credit card details.

She contacted HSBC hoping they would stop the transactions and provide her with some guidance.

'I knew that the money left my account but I didn't know it was gone,' Ms Khoo told 7News.

'I truly believed that they could claw back the funds.'

'They told me they would look into it, to go into the branch the next day, and to report to the police.'

Ms Khoo said she was told by the bank's branch manager it wasn't necessary to make a police report, but she did anyway. 

She lashed out at the bank saying she was disappointed by HSBC's response.

Ms Khoo said six months since the scam, she has only been updated twice by email  and is still waiting for her money to be returned.

After migrating to Australia from Malaysia in 2017, and now losing her deposit for a new home, Ms Khoo said the scam has left her shocked.

'I couldn't look at myself. I was embarrassed and ashamed,' she said.

“I screen all my calls now — my confidence is shattered.

An HSBC Australia Scam Victims Facebook page has been set up where customers post their experiences and offer advice

'We understand being a victim of a scam is a stressful and distressing situation and we remain focused on doing everything we can to protect our customers,' HSBC said. 

Unfortunately, Ms Khoo is one of many HSBC customers to fall victim to scammers.

An HSBC Australia Scam Victims Facebook page has been set up where customers post their experiences and offer advice.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has revealed that HSBC customers lost more than $6.3 million in a 'spoofing' text message scam in the eight months to March 2024.

Daily Mail Australia contacted HSBC for comment on Ms Khoo's case.    

In reply, the bank said that due to privacy reasons they can’t discuss specific customer situations.

'We understand being a victim of a scam is a stressful and distressing situation and we remain focused on doing everything we can to protect our customers,' they said. 

'Protecting our customers is our priority and we continue to enhance existing initiatives and implement new ones, while also playing our part in supporting the wider financial services industry on this issue.'  

HSBC said it continues to educate their customers and will never ask them to provide PINs, passwords or verification codes on a phone call, in response to a text message or email.

Ms Khoo says the bank is not going far enough to protect customers.

'Scammers targeted HSBC customers for a year because they could get away with it, and it’s HSBC’s inaction that allowed it to continue,' she said.

'This is not good enough.'