Big banks are now providing emotional support to their customers caught in this complex and devastating crime

A new breed of bankers have become the first line of defence against off-shore crooks who pose as online lovers to fleece Australians of their hard-earned cash.

Bank staff no longer merely process transactions, cash cheques and offer loans. These days, banks employ entire teams of specialists — highly trained to handle complex cases of manipulation and fraud — who reveal when customers are caught in heartbreaking romance scams.

Chris Sheehan, who leads NAB’s Group Investigations unit, said the bank has more than 1000 employees whose job is to “break the spell” that scammers cast over its customers.

“There’s a lot of similarities between the romance or friendship scams and the investment scams, because of the amount of contact between the scammer and the victim,” he said.

“There’s a lot of psychological grooming that takes place between the scammer and their victims.

“If people are really caught in the spell, they would have been coached (by the scammer) to ignore everything the bank tells them.

“Sometimes they’ll be coached to believe that the bank is the problem and the bank is trying to stop them making money.”

That’s why NAB has about 100 highly trained consultants whose job it is to help customers realise when they’re being conned.

“They’re part of more than 1000 people working on this problem end to end,” Mr Sheehan said.

“We have skilled people who are trained and experienced in dealing with these more complex scam events.

“We’ve hired behavioural scientists in that to help us shape our communications with people in different situations, so that we try and get as much cut-through as we possibly can.

“We’re leaning on pretty sophisticated AI-based and behavioural biometric tools … to identify red flags for us to intervene as early as we possibly can.”

Mr Sheehan, responsible for NAB’s scam strategy and strategic fraud change program, said intervention might initially be as simple as an alert in a customer’s banking app, preventing them from proceeding with the payment until they interact with the warning message or a phone call from the bank.

If those measures fail, the case will be escalated.

Mr Sheehan, a former Australian Federal Police officer who spent most of his 27-year career as a cop in counter-terrorism and fighting organised crime, said it can be “incredibly difficult” to make a customer realise that their online romantic relationship is not real.

“There is some technological sophistication in these scams but the real sophistication and the deep skill that scammers have is their ability to manipulate people once they make contact with them,” he said.

“If these were legitimate sales people, they would be highly successful, because they’re selling a dream of some sort to a vulnerable person to steal their money and people fall for it.”

ANZ’s Head of Customer Protection Shaq Johnson hears his team delivering the “bad news” to customers every day.

“I hear my staff on the floor constantly talking to scam victims, trying to convince them that they are being scammed,” he said.

“We get there eventually but sometimes it’s a lot more challenging than just a 15-minute conversation.

“Because of the amount of attachment and degree of grooming that happens, it can take a lot longer, and sometimes we spend hours talking to an individual.

“Unfortunately, scammers also coach victims on what to say to us.”

Scam cases are often escalated through ANZ’s fraud department with multiple specialists having to speak to a single victim.

“I’ve had my fair share of conversations with romance scam victims, where I would spend hours with them on the phone, trying to help them do their own research to land on that conclusion,” Mr Johnson said.

“Then when we finally get them over the line … that realisation is quite confronting for both the customer and our people.

“We do a lot of training to make sure that they are well-equipped to be able to have these tough conversations.”

Mr Johnson said ANZ has a team of first responders in its scams contact centre as well as highly trained scam specialists and investigators.

“If we think the customer is heavily entrenched, at risk of losing their life savings or experiencing vulnerability due to the scam or other factors, we’ve got a harder care process to manage those customers in a more delicate way,” he said.

“Somebody who’s lonely or who’s gone through a particular life experience can make them more vulnerable and susceptible to romance scams for various reasons.

“If the conversation ever turns into extracting money from you, it is highly likely — especially if you’re talking with somebody abroad or who you haven’t met before, even if they were very patient and waited for three months before the conversation shifts towards money — you are being scammed.”

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said romance scammers typically preyed on people seeking companionship and connection.

“Australians reported losing $23.6 million to dating and romance scams in 2024,” Ms Lowe said.

“Romance scammers gain victims’ trust over time and then exploit it, often persuading them to invest large sums of money. The consequences can be devastating both financially and emotionally.

“We urge people to stay vigilant and verify any investment opportunities via credible sources such as through an Australian registered financial adviser.”

Mr Sheehan says romance scammers are “highly sophisticated and organised individuals”.

“Personally, out of all the different scam types of scams, I hate the criminals that commit romance scams the most,” he said.

“They’re the worst because of the emotional damage they cause once a person realises that they’ve been completely deceived.

“It’s bad enough that they’ve lost a lot of money, but their hearts have been ripped out along the way.

“The crooks go into those types of scams knowing that’s the emotional and psychological impact they’re going to have.

“I’d see them all in jail if I could make that happen.”