Heather du Plessis-Allan: We shouldn't force banks to refund people who've been scammed

As sorry as I feel for people who’ve been scammed out of cash, and I do, I don’t think banks should be forced to refund them.

There’s quite a successful scam going around at the moment involving a text purporting to come from New Zealand and quite a few scam victims have spoken to media in the last few days.

The guy who was in Australia for work got a text purporting to be from BNZ saying his account had been frozen. He clicked it, entered his details- and lost $35,000.

There was the Queenstown woman who got an alert saying a new device had been added to her BNZ account. She clicked it, logged in with her bank password- and lost $42,000. 

And then there was the couple who sold their Whangarei house three months ago who saw a guy online claiming to be a broker for Citibank offering Yorkshire Building Society bonds paying 13.5 percent interest. And they wired him $330,000. 

On the back of this, Consumer New Zealand is now pushing for banks to refund the scam victims, because banks have ‘deep pockets’ and most, if not all of these people don’t.

But there are already laws around this. Banks have to refund you if you didn’t authorise the  transaction.

So maybe you lose your wallet, some guy paywaves your credit card and you didn’t authorise that, the bank will return that money.

Presumably the same would happen with someone hacking your account through no fault of your own, you would get a refund.

But if you click a link, insert your bank details, or fall for a wild investment promise and send your money to a Nigerian prince- you did authorise that transaction, so no refund.

I know the scammers are getting more and more sophisticated, but how many times do we have to be told: Do not click a link sent to you. 

If you’re worried that the bank is actually trying to get hold of you, close the email or the text. Open the bank’s actual website. Log in there instead. It is not complicated.

If we start forcing banks to refund for very few people, I guarantee it will increase risky behaviour.

A 13.5 percent return on investment from the UK sound a little too good to be true? Today, maybe you don’t take the risk in case it’s a scam. But if the bank has to refund in the case of a scam, it makes it much less risky doesn’t it?  

I think Consumer NZ has a point that banks should step up their security. For example, every transaction over a certain amount should generate a text asking you to confirm you really want to send that money. If banks don’t have that, they should.

But forcing banks to refund is forcing them to pay for mistakes they aren’t making.

Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show.