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Parliament

Scam victim Emily from Mildura - 90 Second Statement - Federation Chamber - 25 November 2024

Dr WEBSTER (Mallee) (16:08): I will be speaking more about scams and victims soon, but right now I want to speak about Emily from Mildura, in my electorate. Emily is an older Australian; she's 82 years old. She lost her husband in June. Forty-four days later, her computer screen went blue and a message purporting to be from Microsoft urged her to call a 1800 number. Scammers tricked Emily into believing they were the antiscamming authorities and duped Emily into participating in a sting operation using her bank account details. She lost $157,000 from these scums of the earth.

What did her bank offer her by way of reimbursement? They offered $22.36. Emily told me late last week she felt dirty and ashamed and didn't want to tell her family what happened. Emily's family tell me Emily is computer savvy. She's alert, and she's not easily fooled. I dare anyone to call Emily stupid. I made that point to the representatives of Emily's bank in my office here last week, and I am pleased to report reimbursement has been agreed to. It should not take a federal member's involvement for action to occur. There is so much work to be done.

Anne Webster MP