A thief stole my husband's driver's licence and walked into our bank and drained our accounts... how could they have let it happen?

Published: 03:01, 2 June 2026 | Updated: 03:04, 2 June 2026 A couple has lashed out at a bank after claiming a criminal was able to completely drain their accounts by simply walking into a branch and using a stolen ID. Melbourne woman Rachael Hudson explained the thief broke into her car and stole her husband Aaron's wallet on April 17. As soon as the couple found out, Mr Hudson immediately contacted Bendigo Bank to report his credit card and driver's licence had been swiped. Ten days later, he discovered he was locked out of his e-banking account.  'So he rang them up and was told there had been some fraudulent activity on his account,' Ms Hudson said. 'They said, 'We can actually no longer disclose any more information to you over the phone, so we need you to come in person to verify who you are'. 'In the meantime, I've had a look at our accounts and I realised our joint accounts have been drained.' Ms Hudson discovered the thief had acted quickly after breaking into her car, and used her husband's licence in the space of two hours to gain access to the accounts. A couple has been reimbursed hundreds of dollars after losing all their money when a criminal stole the husband's wallet and impersonated him to gain access to all of their bank accounts 'It turns out the guy took the stolen licence up to the counter, pretended to be my husband, used that as his ID and withdrew $380 from our joint bills account at this branch,' she told Daily Mail. 'He then went into a second branch a few kilometres down the road and asked the employees there to reset the internet banking login details for him, which they did. 'The same branch also allowed him to change the phone number on Aaron's account to his own number, allowing him to sign into internet banking on a new device.' Ms Hudson said the criminal was able to access all of their e-banking details and with all that information, logged in and transferred money from their mortgage offset and joint business account into Mr Hudson's main account. The criminal then drove to a third bank, which happened to be the couple's local branch for eight years, and withdrew the $440 he had transferred earlier. Ms Hudson, who feels let down by the bank, said they were left in a difficult financial position at the time. 'We were left with nothing in our bank accounts except 60 cents in one account and 40 cents in the other,' she said. Ms Hudson claimed she was told by the bank that the criminal looked like her husband, but questioned why not a single verification question was asked when the impostor visited the first two branches. Rachael Hudson, who co-owns Legacee Bags with her husband Aaron, contacted Bendigo Bank to report his stolen credit card after her car was broken into 'It seems crazy to us that a person is not required to answer or provide any additional questions or information in a branch, especially since my husband reported to Bendigo Bank ten days prior that his cards and IDs had been stolen,' she said. 'That employee also submitted a claim to Bendigo Bank's fraud team for us, seeking a reimbursement of about $50 that the thief had spent using Aaron's card on the day his wallet was stolen. 'It all should have been flagged.' When Mr Hudson queried why no questions were asked, Ms Hudson claimed he was told it was 'standard and normal' operating procedure for its bank branches. 'He was told most customers don't know their customer ID numbers so the workers don't bother asking,' she said. 'He was also told that unless there was a reason to suspect the person in front of them, they were almost always satisfied by the presentation of the driver's licence alone and won't bother asking any secondary verification questions.' The couple have since been reimbursed all the stolen funds, but Ms Hudson said she was appalled with the way Bendigo Bank handled things. 'The aftercare by the bank following all of this has been terrible to say the least,' she said. The couple have since been reimbursed all the stolen funds, but Ms Hudson said she was appalled with the way Bendigo Bank handled things 'In the weeks after it occurred, we didn't receive any apologies or updates from Bendigo Bank proactively or the branch employees. 'We've spent hours on the phone and in person trying to get answers and last week, my husband finally received an apology after pointing out that not one person had even apologised up to that point.' Ms Hudson described the ordeal as 'alarming' and claimed she has not been offered any 'assurances' that a similar incident will not happen to them again.  'My husband has had to offer suggestions for how they might try to secure his account more,' she said. Ms Hudson said she was '100 per cent' thinking about changing banks.  The Bendigo Bank financial crimes team are investigating the incident. Ms Hudson said she has also made a complaint to police.   A Bendigo Bank spokesman said it took incidents like that very seriously.  'Protecting the bank's 2.9 million customers and their personal information is always the bank's highest priority,' he said. 'Last financial year, Bendigo Bank stopped $34.4 million in fraudulent transactions, leading to a 34 per cent reduction in customer fraud losses year on year. 'The Bank continuously reviews and strengthens security measures to protect against unauthorised access and encourages any customer who suspects their identity or accounts may have been compromised to contact us or visit a branch immediately.'  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. 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