A loving father is “traumatised” after a scam caller, pretending to be his daughter in distress, robbed him of his life’s savings.
Brisbane local Josie Duncan, 31, was travelling to Canada to visit her father Jeff Duncan, 61, when he received a call that would turn his world upside-down.
“Somewhere between the first two flights, my dad received a phone call,” Josie told 7NEWS.com.au.
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“The way he explains it, it sounded exactly like my voice — he swears it was my voice.”
The voice her widowed father heard on the phone was in distress and crying — and identifying themselves as “Josie”.
“They went on to say that they were in trouble and they needed this money ASAP,” the real Josie said.
“This person was crying and then hung up.”
Josie said her father immediately tried to contact her, but she was mid-flight and could not answer his desperate calls.
“My dad had tried calling my phone but because it was on aeroplane mode he went into a panic,” she said.
“He was genuinely worried about my safety.”
Josie said her father then continued a conversation via text message with the scammer, who was still claiming to be Josie, before he eventually “drained his bank account” of more than $5000 and sent it via online transfer — believing it was going to his daughter.
When her father was eventually able to reach Josie, she immediately contacted police in Canada.
“What hit heavy for me was the look on his face when he was finally able to reach me on a FaceTime, as I was going through security at the airport,” Josie said.
“Him seeing me safe was such a relief for him, but then I also saw the look of defeat as he realised he had been scammed.”
Police told Josie the money transfer was unable to be traced, and was therefore not retrievable.
“The police said there has been cases of people using artificial intelligence to copy people’s voices,” Josie said.
“Whoever did this knew my name, my dad’s mobile number, and knew I was his daughter.
“I also believe they knew I was travelling at the time, the timing just seemed too spot-on.”
Only 24 hours after the scam phone call, Josie said her father is doing OK, however, the blow hits extra hard for the widower who works 60 hours a week as a baker “to makes ends meet” and who was just trying to help his daughter.
“It’s just my dad at home, we lost my mum about 11 years ago,” Josie said.
“He works so hard and would do anything in the world for me.”
Josie and her father have lodged complaints with Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) over the scam.
A spokesperson from the Royal Bank of Canada told 7NEWS.com.au that scams could be a “difficult and stressful” situation for people to find themselves in.
“We realise that any time a client is affected by fraud or scams, it can be a difficult and stressful situation for them,” they said.
“We remind clients to take precautions to ensure they are dealing with a trusted source when transferring or receiving funds.”
The RBC spokesperson said that although they could not comment on the specifics of Josie and her father’s case due to privacy, they did say they were “taking their matter seriously”.
“Scams are increasingly sophisticated, and we work closely with industry associations, government and law enforcement to prevent, detect and investigate fraud.”
The Australian government recommends people who think they may have been the victim of a scam to report it to Scam Watch, or contact their local police, to help limit the damage.
Josie has started a GoFundMe to try to reimburse her father some of the money lost to the scammers.
“He didn’t deserve this. Nobody does,” she said.
“I just want to make it right for him. He went through something traumatic, he is now out so much money — he has bills to pay.
“I also (want) to spread awareness. I want to protect our elders, people like my dad, who wouldn’t even think that these scams were possible.”
