Aussie pensioner left suicidal after losing $44,000 life savings to scammers in just 25 minutes
- Gay de Beer fleeced of her life savings by scammers
- Questioned why Bendigo Bank didn't pick up fraudulent activity
- READ MORE: I worked in a call centre and ripped off hundreds of Aussies
An elderly pensioner is at her wits end' after she was tricked out of her life savings while she was at the bank trying to stop the funds from being stolen.
Gay de Beer, 73, was fooled by a remote access scam that saw her Bendigo Bank account completely drained of her $44,000 savings in May.
The Melbourne resident had been working on her laptop when the screen turned black and a message popped up alerting her to a major virus.
Ms de Beer thought she was doing the right thing by calling the number that claimed to be from Microsoft.
The operator told her someone was trying to hack into her PayPal account and that the 73-year-old's debit card details had also been leaked.
'Maybe I was bulldozed but I kept on listening and I asked if it was a scam,' she told news.com.au.
Ms de Beer gave them access to her computer so they could stop the fraudulent activity and she watched them take control of the computer.
Shockingly, the remote access scam only took 25 minutes to completely fleece Ms de Beer out of her hard earned savings.
Gay de Beer, 73, (pictured) was scammed out of her $44,000 in savings when she fell victim to a remote access scam
The pensioner claims that Bendigo Bank has shown little empathy in relation to her ordeal
As the transactions were being made, the pensioner realised what was happening and rushed to the nearest Bendigo Bank branch five minutes away.
Ms de Beer, who has no family in Australia, is angry at least one of the transactions was not stopped because she was in the bank alerting staff as it was happening.
Some of the transfers were deposited to accounts that had letters and numbers that didn't make any sense as the account name.
Ms de Beer is now questioning why the bank did not pick this up as fraudulent activity.
The ordeal has made her feeling suicidal and claims Bendigo Bank has shown little empathy.
The pensioner had the money as a safety net so she can pay her rent and car expenses - and has been doing some bookkeeping and ride share jobs to help her survive on her limited income.
Ms de Beer is angry after police told her that one of the fraudulent transactions was transferred to another Bendigo Bank account, yet the bank has only recovered $7,500.
It only took 34 minutes for scammers to drain the pensioner's account (stock image)
The fraudulent transactions were split into four and the amounts were $19,900, $9,900, $4,900 and $9,400.
Ms de Beer is confused as to why the scammers got away with draining her account without getting caught - especially when she has the names of the two accounts that her money was transferred into.
'Bendigo Bank said I was totally and wholly responsible for the transactions as I gave them access through my biometrics,' she said.
'I’m absolutely sh**ting myself thinking I have lost all my money.'
The Melbourne resident, who receives $540 a week on the pension and pays $270 a week in rent, has taken her case to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
At a recent conciliation meeting, she was only offered $2,000 in goodwill from her bank, which she rejected.
As banks are required to pay AFCA money as part of the process when a complaint is made, Ms de Beer cannot understand why they cannot just put money in her account instead.
She is at her 'wits end' and noted the bank refunded the money of another scam victim in full - and should do that for all its customers.
Bendigo Bank told news.com.au that they take 'cyber security very seriously' while urging customers to ensure protect themselves by not sharing passwords or letting someone they don't know to log into their computer remotely.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Bendigo Bank for further comment.
If you or someone you know needs support, contact Lifeline Australia 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36.
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