Danny received a payout after his son took his own life... when he lost $70,000 to scammers, the bank refused to reimburse him

Published: 03:58, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 04:20, 1 July 2026 A Vietnam War veteran who was scammed out of $70,000 has won his money back in a landmark case after a major bank blamed him for the loss.  Danny McIver was on his computer when scammers impersonating Microsoft hacked into his device and mobile phone through remote access software to complete four unauthorised transactions in 2024. Most of his savings, which came from a life insurance payout from his son's suicide, were transferred out of his Bendigo Bank account to new payees in three transactions amounting to almost $30,000. A $40,000 payment was also made via BPAY.  Despite receiving a fraud alert, the bank allowed the $40,000 payment to go through and only froze Mr McIver's account two hours after speaking to him. They then accused him of 'extreme carelessness' and refused reimbursement.  He lodged a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and was successful in retrieving all of his cash, something only 4.8 per cent of scam victims achieve when mediation fails, according to 2023-24 AFCA data.  The bank, which initially offered Mr McIver a $5,000 settlement in December 2024, argued that it was his fault as he broke security rules by giving out the passcodes needed for the transactions to go ahead.   It also argued it was extremely careless for him to allow scammers to gain remote access to the computer and mobile phone, especially since his passwords were saved on his internet browser.   Danny McIver was on his computer when scammers impersonating Microsoft hacked into his device and mobile phone through remote access software to complete four unauthorised transactions in 2024 However, those claims were rejected, with AFCA ruling the scammers would have seen the verification text messages regardless of whether Mr McIver or his granddaughter, who was with him at the time, told them.   'The scammer would also have known the messages were about to be sent, because he initiated them from the complainant's internet banking,' AFCA said.  'The complainant's granddaughter has explained the scammer told her the messages related to unauthorised transactions performed by a (different) scammer. He told her to delete the messages and she did so. 'This would have required her to navigate to the message function of the phone to delete each one. Each passcode would have been visible for several more seconds as she did so.' AFCA revealed that IT expert Jeremy Thomas from Computer Coaching was crucial in landing Mr McIver the win. He had previously told news.com.au that the scammers had tricked Mr McIver by using a second screen on his computer which was hidden from the victim's end. 'The scammers were mucking around on the first window but they were in the second internet window looking for saved banking logins and passwords and my client had no idea,' Mr Thomas said. With the help of Mr Thomas, AFCA also found that the remote access software on the computer 'was configured to silent install' and was difficult for Mr McIver or his granddaughter to notice. Most of Mr McIver's savings was transferred out of his Bendigo Bank account and to new payees in three transactions amounting to almost $30,000 'This means no further action was required from the user to complete the installation process after first initiating it,' it said. 'There would also be no prompts, warnings or status updates provided to the user while the installation process was underway.' AFCA dismissed claims of extreme carelessness, ruling Mr McIver was an innocent victim of a sophisticated scam.  'Although remote access technology is increasingly used as a means of perpetrating a scam, granting remote access to a computer or mobile phone is not, in itself, an act of extreme carelessness,' it said. 'There are legitimate uses for remote access applications, primarily related to IT technical support. Similarly, a customer logging in to their own internet banking is not extreme carelessness without some additional circumstances. 'Keeping an internet banking password prefilled on an internet browser, although not advisable, is also not by itself a breach of the passcode security requirements of the Code.' Mr McIver said he was 'elated' with the outcome, especially since the incident left him with 'terrible nightmares' at the time.  'I was so thankful that I had people in my corner and people who really did care,' he said. 'It knocked me around for nearly two years and I will never be the same again for what they put me through. 'It really wrecked me and everyone around me could see it affected me badly. I was really crook at that time too.'  Mr McIver said he was also happy for his granddaughter who felt partly responsible.  'My granddaughter got a lot of benefit as she suffered for a long time silently – when the money came through she didn't feel as bad,' he said. 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. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.