Westpac boss apologises to furious customer over $50,000 cash withdrawal debacle: ‘My money’
A Westpac customer was rejected from withdrawing $50,000 to put it into Bitcoin. (Source: Getty/AAP)
The boss of Westpac has promised to do better after a customer was denied from withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars to invest in cryptocurrency. Tim was furious that he was given the run-around by the Big Four bank and said he should have been able to spend his money however he wished.
A Westpac spokesperson told Yahoo Finance that while it couldn’t comment on individual cases, stopping scams is one of their “biggest priorities” and they try to look out for red flags whenever someone wants to take out big sums of cash. Westpac CEO Anthony Miller admitted that, in this case, they got it wrong.
“We apologise to Tim and I’m apologising now to Tim that it didn’t quite work as we wanted,” he told 2GB Radio.
Tim, who had been a Westpac customer since he was 12, was frustrated that he was knocked back initially, but his phone call with the bank left him even more furious.
“He just had no intention of pushing it through, and just no intention of letting me have the freedom to use my own after-tax dollars,” he told 2GB Radio.
Tim recorded the phone call and played it for Ben Fordham, where he said he just wanted his money.
“It’s because you are using our banking platform,” the Westpac worker said.
“You’ve agreed to our terms and conditions… We’re not going to be able to facilitate this payment if you’re not forthcoming and honest.”
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The customer raged about over-regulation and wanted to progress through the questionnaire about what he planned to do with the cash.
“You’ve got my money. I’d love my money back,” he said.
But the worker wouldn’t budge.
“I’m genuinely trying my best to help you out as best as possible, but I feel as though, so far, you are trying to tiptoe around the answers and just simply tell me what you think I want to hear in order to have this push through on my level,” he told Tim.
Even though the customer said he was going to invest in the popular cryptocurrency, the staffer said it wasn’t “adding up”.
Westpac locked Tim out of his accounts for nearly a week, but once he regained access, he withdrew all his money and moved it to another bank.
The customer said that if he took out his cash when he wanted to, he would have gained around $6,500 due to a Bitcoin spike.
Miller said his bank is constantly on the lookout for customers being scammed.
“We’ve got a real priority to make sure our customers understand it’s a really dangerous, murky area to participate in and so we’re trying to do the right thing by the customers,” he explained.
However, the banking boss admitted that the questions that staff ask about cash withdrawals could be tweaked.
“We can certainly improve our delivery on that one and there’s no doubt that we’ll look at more coaching,” he said.
“We also need to be more sensitive to customers, it’s their money, we completely understand.
“It’s a responsibility that we have to really make sure that they understand there is a risk there when dealing in areas like crypto.”
Banks in Australia and around the world are on high alert for scams and have put up a few roadblocks to ensure people don’t lose their money.
It’s a controversial tactic as it has left a bad taste in some customer’s mouths because they feel they’re being interrogated about their own money.
A Yahoo Finance poll of more than 7,700 readers found a whopping 77 per cent believe banks have no right to ask you about your money.
While Aussies might want to withdraw their cash, they have to jump through a few hoops to make sure they’re not getting scammed. (Source: Getty)
NAB and and Westpac told Yahoo Finance the processes were in place to protect customers from fraud or scams.
There have been countless stories of people who asked Aussie bank tellers to withdraw their cash or move their money somewhere and it turned out they were seconds away from being scammed.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed that more than $382 million had been lost to investment scams in 12 months to August last year.
It’s not just older Aussies getting caught in the crossfire either, with victims now more likely to be under the age of 50.
Nearly half (47 per cent) of these losses, which equated to around $180 million, involved cryptocurrencies.
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