Great-grandmother Marie Marshall falls victim to scammer posing as Commonwealth Bank employee and loses her life savings

A widow has been left with only $4 in her purse after she fell victim to a cruel scam and lost her entire life savings. 

Marie Marshall lost $21,000 when a conman posing as a Commonwealth Bank employee convinced her to move her money into a new account to ‘keep it safe’.

The scammer rang Ms Marshall in May and told her he worked for the Commonwealth’s fraud department.

She said the man was well-spoken, had an Indian accent and came across as genuine after he quoted her account numbers and balances

‘He advised me that there were a number of suspicious transactions on my account, and Commonwealth believed my account had been compromised,’ Ms Marshall said.

‘In order to secure my accounts and funds, he said I’d need to open a new CBA account and transfer all my money there.’

Ms Marshall was also asked to download an app to transfer the funds into the account, which was more secure than providing details over the phone because that’s what ‘scammers do’. 

Ms Marshall did not know the app gave the scammer complete access to her phone making it simple for him to take her money and use her credit cards

The great grandmother, who family and friends described as an ‘Aussie battler’ ready to give anybody a helping hand, was unaware of the cruel trick for two days until she read a Facebook account of someone who fell victim to an identical scam.

‘I immediately burst into tears and attempted to access my bank account, but was unable to login,’ Ms Marshall said.

‘I then drove to a nearby ATM, but my pin code didn’t work. I was heartbroken and highly distraught.

‘I was so embarrassed, and I felt so stupid that I fell for the scam. I’d always been so careful with money. My future is going to be a week-to-week living situation.’ 

Ms Marshall was left with just $4 in her purse meaning the fiercely independent woman who has always paid her own way had to call on her family for financial help.

The scammer posed as a Commonwealth Bank fraud department employee and convinced Ms Marshall she needed to use an app to transfer her money into a new account to keep it safe

As well as the money stolen from her account the scammer has racked up over $3,000 on her credit card.

The devastating series of events left Ms Marshall suffering depression and she withdrew from the world, which concerned her family. 

With the help of her daughter Ms Marshall explained what happened to the bank but they say the money can’t be recovered. 

However, Westpac was able to recover $5,500 of Ms Marshall’s funds, which have been returned to her.

The Commonwealth Bank has offered Ms Marshall compensation of just $4,490 but want $2,500 of the the credit card bill paid.

Since the scam Ms Marshall has seen her Facebook account hacked with all photos and contacts removed, and she has received up to 10 unsolicited phone calls from unknown numbers every day. 

The Commonwealth Bank is insisting that Ms Marshall’s lost funds are unrecoverable and she needs to cover most of a credit card debt racked up by the scammer

To help her out her son Chris Marshall has started a GoFundMe page.

He said his mum had been saving her tax refunds for the past seven years to buy a used car in retirement.

‘Anyone that knows Marie, knows how hard life has been,’ the page reads.

‘She raised 3 children by herself as a widow and has worked hard throughout her life.

She has always gone without and budgeted her entire life on minimum wages.’

Her son says since the scam his mother ‘feels absolutely lost and is struggling both emotionally and financially’.

By Sunday morning almost $8000 had been pledged to help her plight.