PerthNow reported that Pure Glass WA lost $50,000 in two transfers from its business account in 2022. The account of how the transfers were authenticated is disputed: Bankwest’s explanation differed from owner Wade Brown’s, and the report says the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) found the business at fault and Bankwest not responsible. The underlying AFCA decision was not reproduced in the report.
What happened to the Pure Glass WA business account?
In a report published on 17 September 2024, journalist Kayla Sellwood wrote that an employee called Pure Glass WA owner Wade Brown on a Friday night in 2022 after noticing a large payment missing from the company account. PerthNow reported two transfers of $25,000 each to an AMP account titled “Pure Glassess,” with “INVOICE 21745” in the payment description.
Brown told PerthNow that he called Bankwest immediately to freeze the account. The report says Bankwest later said it alerted AMP within 35 minutes, but the money was not stopped and was sent to the scammer. Brown had spent two years seeking to recover it by the time of the article. He told news.com.au, as quoted by PerthNow: “It almost crippled us. $50,000 is a lot in any small business.”
Why the authentication account is disputed
PerthNow reported that the business’s internet service went down the day before the transfers, and then someone claiming to represent the internet provider contacted the business. The report presents different accounts of how the transactions were authorized; it does not establish which mechanism was used.
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| Account | Authentication explanation | What the report establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Bankwest’s reported view | Bankwest believed an employee had been persuaded during the caller’s contact to download software that gave scammers control of a company computer. The bank’s reported alternative was that the scammer used a token code sent to the registered mobile number. | PerthNow reports Bankwest’s explanation, but does not provide technical records proving how the transfers were made. The report does not say the employee knowingly participated. |
| Brown’s account | Brown said a token code generated by a dongle plugged into a computer was required, and that the dongle was in a separate locked room the employee on duty could not access. He said: “I tried to do two transactions without a security code,” and, “It’s impossible.” | PerthNow reports Brown’s account, but does not provide underlying authentication logs or other records that resolve the conflict. |
Because the report does not include the AFCA decision or underlying bank records, it is not possible from this account alone to determine precisely how the scammers gained access or which authentication credential enabled the payments.
What PerthNow reported about the Bankwest and AFCA dispute
PerthNow says Bankwest declined reimbursement and considered the business liable. It also reports that AFCA concluded Brown’s business was at fault and Bankwest was not responsible for the loss. That is the report’s account of AFCA’s outcome; the article does not reproduce the decision’s reasoning, so it does not establish the details of the findings or how they applied to the disputed authentication accounts.
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The report quotes an unnamed Bankwest spokesperson as saying: “The security of customers and their finances is a priority for Bankwest.” The spokesperson also said: “Bankwest and its dedicated scams team does everything it can to prevent and/or recall funds lost to scams, but it’s not always possible, especially when customers have participated in and authorised the transactions.” These are the bank spokesperson’s general comments, not a detailed explanation of the AFCA decision.
Bankwest’s general advice to customers
The Bankwest spokesperson quoted by PerthNow recommended three steps: “stop, check and reject.” The spokesperson described them as pausing before acting, checking with a trusted contact or organisation, and rejecting contact that feels uncertain. PerthNow presents this as general guidance, not as a specific AFCA recommendation or individualized response to Brown’s case.
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What the figures do—and do not—show
The $50,000 loss, two $25,000 transfers, 35-minute notification interval and two-year recovery effort are figures reported for this single incident by PerthNow in 2024. They should not be read as wider scam statistics. The article does not provide a population-level study or broader measure of business scam losses.
Read Kayla Sellwood’s PerthNow report, published 17 September 2024.
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