Almost two weeks since being robbed by scammers, a Sydney couple are enduring an anxious wait to see whether St George Bank will refund their stolen $100,000, despite promises on the bank’s website to do so.
On Wednesday, May 6, an Eastern Suburbs pair received a phone call from a slick-speaking man with a thick British accent who was impersonating a St George fraud detection employee.
He gained access to their internet banking and transferred $50,000 from one account overseas. The couple suspects the purpose of the phone call was to delay and distract the pair while a second $50,000 was transferred overseas to a Lloyds Bank account.
However, two weeks on the couple are still waiting for their bank – which promises their customers protection from fraud – to reimburse the money.
St George advertises that those who bank with the company will be reimbursed the “full amount” in the event of an unauthorised transaction.
“In the unlikely event that an unauthorised phone or internet transaction does occur (and it is clear that you have not contributed to the losses*), St George will refund you the full amount,” St George displays on its website.
The policy is designed to give families peace of mind, but Australia’s corporate watchdog has warned victims of fraud almost always end up suffering.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed in a 2023 report that about 96 per cent of total scam losses end up with the customers of major banks, rather than the banks themselves.
This was despite more than 31,700 customers losing a combined $550 million in the 2023 financial year.
Between the banks, ASIC said the reimbursement and compensation rate varied from 2 to 5 per cent.
Banks also only detected around 13 per cent of scam payments being prevented.
SkyNews.com.au editor Jack Houghton, who broke the story about this couple, said assurances by the bank directly contradicted the reality of swindled customers.
“They’re marketing, they’re branding,” Houghton told Sky News Business Now on Monday.
“If you go to a St George website … it says, ‘you’re secure (and) we’ve got artificial intelligence, it’s so sophisticated, it detects it’.
“But in actuality, if you’re scammed, if you’re tricked or if you a victim of a phishing scam … in 96 per cent of cases, you wear it.”
The couple also stressed that St George made it difficult for them to explain the situation through the absence of human contact and “empathy”.
The couple described the aftermath as robotic, impersonal and emotionally draining.
At 10am, the morning after their funds were stolen, St George sent multiple automated messages letting the victims know it would take up to 21 days to be told if funds would be recovered.
“Thanks for letting us know about your recent scam incident,” the automated message read.
“You’ll receive an SMS within the next 48 hours, which will include a scam reference number linked to your report.”
The pair were also told they would be notified by email if they should lose every cent.
It was only five days after the scam that the couple received their first phone call from a human at the bank.
Sources at St George bank said investigations such as these were complex and time consuming but gave assurances that the broader system had not been compromised.
It was also explained that the bank had a policy not to comment on individual customer matters, or specifics related to system functions.
A St George spokesperson said the bank recognised the matter was “distressing” and revealed there had been an increase in scams, but declined to answer a series of specific questions.
“Unfortunately, there has been a recent spike in impersonation scams, where criminals pose as banks or other trusted organisations to trick people into transferring money or providing access to their accounts,” the spokesperson said.
“Stopping scams is one of our highest priorities and we continue to invest significantly in prevention measures, including enhanced monitoring, customer warnings and support teams.
“Where a customer has transferred money to a scammer, we work hard to recover funds where possible.”
St George is wholly owned by the Westpac Group and has invested heavily in artificial intelligence fraud detection technologies in recent years.
Westpac publicly spruiked its AI fraud capabilities as recently as May, 2025, with the bank’s CEO Anthony Miller quoted in a press release saying “AI is improving support for customers in crucial moments”.
“In urgent circumstances, like when a customer thinks they’ve been scammed, these calls can be very emotive with lots of information that our operators need to synthesise very quickly,” Miller said.
The couple has lodged a formal complaint with St George over its handling of the case. In response, the bank wrote back to the couple, apologising for “inconvenience or frustration you have experienced”.
One of the victims, who worked in the financial sector for 25 years, said he may be forced out of retirement if the funds were not reimbursed.
“We would have said before last week we are the last couple who could be scammed because of our experience working in financial services,” he said.
“If this can happen to us, it can happen to anyone and I hope our story can be a wake up call to the banks to improve their systems.
“I am convinced that if you had not contacted them we still would not have a phone call. We would have been lost in the system and that is not good enough.”
The cyber crimes unit at NSW Police is investigating the matter.