Taxi driver scammed out of $450 by man using ANZ app

A Melbourne taxi driver has been scammed out of $450 by a customer who paid for his fare using a banking app.

Srijan Polasani told Ross and John he took a couple from Richmond to St Kilda and the fare was $35.

The man, with an English accent, claimed he had no cash or card but he has the ANZ app, so he said he would transfer $50 to Srijan.

“He said sorry, I was meant to transfer you $50 but I’ve transferred $500,” Srijan said.

“I logged into my account and I could see $500 in there, so I thought it was right.”

Srijan stopped at an ATM to give the man $450 cash.

Then mysteriously, the $500 disappeared.

Click PLAY below to hear the full details

“My friend, another cab driver, had exactly the same thing happen to him and it was a man with a British accent,” he said.

Steven Cvetkovic, Chief Information Security Officer at Swinburne University told Ross and John it’s one of the oldest and most common scams in banking.

“In simple terms it’s like the old days of when people would write a cheque and it would bounce,” Steven said.

“They dispute the charges and the money goes back to the person who originally sent it.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full explanation