Aussie homebuyer almost loses $1.2million before Westpac banker spots suspicious detail in email: 'Question everything'

Published: 04:07, 6 August 2026 | Updated: 04:07, 6 August 2026 A homebuyer has been saved from losing $1.2million to scammers after a banker noticed a suspicious detail during a transfer. The Western Australian mother planned to take out a $500,000 loan, then use $1.2million of her savings to purchase a $1.7million property.  The homebuyer received an email that appeared to come from her solicitor, urging her to urgently transfer the $1.2million ahead of settlement. The young mother called Westpac personal banker Neet Kukreja and informed her of the tight deadline before being told to discuss the matter in person.  Ms Kukreja, who had been working with her for six months, told news.com.au she could tell her customer was panicking.    'She phones me, saying she was preparing for settlement on her home and needed to make a transfer right away,' she said.  'The customer was quite panicked, and she said she needed to make a transfer because settlement was happening at 12pm Eastern time.'  'I told her to come down to the branch and we would sort it out together,' she said.  An Aussie homebuyer has been saved from losing $1.2 million after her banker spotted an extra letter in the scammer's email address and called her lawyer to double check its authenticity Ms Kukreja said she already had her doubts because the bank usually handled settlement transfers, not the buyer.  Her suspicions grew after reading the emails from the lawyer's legitimate account due to the way it was written.  'They even provided instructions on how to raise her daily online banking payment limits,' Ms Kukreja said.  'They knew she had a young child which might make it difficult to get into the bank. 'The first thing I said was that the email tone didn't seem right to me. The solicitor seemed quite informal.' Her doubts were eventually confirmed when contact with the solicitor revealed their email account had been hacked. The call came after Ms Kukreja spotted the word 'westtpac' in the email address of a supposed Westpac employee featured in the email chain. It was spelt with an extra 't'. The West Australian was in the final stages of securing her new $1.7 million home when she received what appeared to be an email from her solicitor urging her to urgently transfer funds ahead of settlement 'In the same email chain, there was an email from who the customer had dealt with before, confirming the solicitor's instructions,' Ms Kukreja said. 'But when I checked on Microsoft Teams, I could see that the employee in question was actually on leave and couldn't have sent the email. 'They'd copied everything else, even her email signature, perfectly. It was nearly - nearly - a perfect replica.'  Following the ordeal, Ms Kukreja said her customer 'went into shock'. 'She was a young mother and it was her life savings,' she said. 'When she realised how close she had come, she was in tears. 'These scammers are so sophisticated. You have to question everything.  'I was so glad I was able to prevent it from happening in this instance.' The homebuyer almost became one of many Aussies scammed out of millions of dollars. National Anti Scam Centre data revealed that payment redirection scams cost victims $166.8million in the past year. Business Email Compromise (BEC), the method used in her case, has quickly become one of the country's most financially damaging cyber crimes.