AFCA has found Commonwealth Bank liable to compensate an elderly couple $71,000 following a series of unauthorised transactions conducted by their daughter.
One of the couple was aged over 80 and their partner over 90.
Between October 2022 and November 2023, a total of $79,263 was transferred from two accounts to the complainants’ daughter and granddaughter. Deposits totalling $7940 were made by the daughter to one account in this period, leaving the net value of disputed transactions at $71,323.
AFCA said the complainants say they do not use internet banking, and that the daughter accessed her mother’s internet banking without her knowledge and consent to perform the disputed transactions.
The complainants discovered the disputed transactions in November 2023 and reported them to the bank.
Commonwealth Bank said the complainants must have disclosed internet banking access information or given access to their electronic devices to allow the disputed transactions to occur, and the bank was not liable for the disputed transactions. The bank also said the complainants delayed in reporting.
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AFCA provided a preliminary view in favour of the bank which the complainants rejected. The complaint has now been determined by an AFCA Ombudsman.
The bank confirmed a series one-time passcodes were sent to the mother’s mobile phone number held in its records, which was not password protected.
The Ombudsman found “the most likely explanation of events is that the daughter obtained her mother’s card number and accessed her mother’s mobile phone without her consent, intercepting the one-time passcodes sent by the bank.”
The parents have reported the theft to police.