Teagan Conn has not been able to financially recover after losing $13,000 in a sophisticated bank scam.
An Echuca mum-of-four who lost almost $13,000 in an elaborate bank scam says her family is still paying the price two years later.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Teagan Conn was pregnant and holidaying in Queensland with her family when a man claiming to be from Up Bank’s fraud team called warning of three suspicious transactions through Australia Post.
The British-accented caller knew her name, date of birth, phone number, home address and email address.
Convinced someone was trying to raid her account, Teagan followed his instructions believing she was protecting her family’s savings.
“He didn't stutter. He knew all of my information,” she said.
“In the moment, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, someone's tried to hack me.’”
She read out a security code sent to her phone and sent a photograph of herself with her driver’s licence to confirm her identity.
The devastating truth emerged when her actual bank called asking whether she had made several gift card purchases.
Teagan said she had already spoken to someone from the fraud team before being told that man was a scammer.
In about 80 minutes, almost $13,000 had been wiped in four transactions.
“That one phone call with me for 80 minutes or whatever, $13,000 richer,” she said.
What followed was months of stress, anxiety and late-night research as Teagan tried to understand what had happened, prove she had been scammed and recover the money.
She disputed the transactions and eventually took the case to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, before accepting a $5000 goodwill payment from the bank after months of fighting.
Teagan Conn had $13,000 wiped from her bank account after unknowingly speaking to a fraudster who claimed to be from her bank’s fraud team.
Still $8000 out of pocket, Teagan said the family had never fully recovered.
“I got home and we sold every asset that we possibly could to try and get something back behind us,” she said.
Almost as distressing as losing the money was what Teagan described as a lack of communication, explanation and compassion throughout the dispute process.
The letter Teagan received from Bendigo Bank.
She said her experience shattered the perception only elderly or technologically inexperienced people fell victim to scams.
“It takes a second. You could be busy with the kids, you could be overwhelmed, you might be out and about,” she said.
Identity technology company VO founder and chief executive Richard Mallam said cybercriminals were becoming increasingly sophisticated as they harnessed artificial intelligence.
“A cybercrime is now reported in Australia every six minutes, and the average cost to an individual victim has risen to $33,000,” he said.
Australian Government figures show more than 84,700 cybercrime reports were received in 2024-25, equivalent to one every six minutes, while the average self-reported cost to individuals rose eight per cent to $33,000.
The text messages Teagan Conn received during the bank scam.
“We are not only seeing a rapid increase in the volume of scams but sophistication thanks to AI, including the ability to re-create a person’s ID, effectively making a digital twin,” Mr Mallam said.
He called for financial institutions to adopt verifiable credential technology, describing it as a “digital handshake” capable of authenticating someone’s identity using verified documents rather than conventional codes and text messages.
The warning comes after Australians reported $2.18 billion in scam losses in 2025, up 7.8 per cent on 2024, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre.
For Teagan, the warning is painfully personal.
“It's easy to look from the outside and go, ‘You should have questioned it,’” she said.
“But when you’re supposed to trust them with your hard-earned bloody money, it’s not nice.”
21°C