A tree lopper was forced to hunt down heartless thieves who blew $14,000 of his money on a spending spree after his bank blamed him for being scammed by the criminals.
Melbourne arborist Walter Vantilburg, 59, went hunting the crooks himself after he noticed seven unauthorised transactions at five different Melbourne JB Hi-Fi stores.
Mr Vantilburg said he discovered the unauthorised transactions when he was paying an employee in September.
He was initially hopeful his money would be saved when he rang Bendigo Bank as many of the transactions were still pending.
Mr Vantilburg claimed the bank told him they ‘didn’t care’ and there was nothing that could be done to stop them.
The hardworking tree lopper watched as his money was drained from his bank account via multiple withdraws in the amounts of $1,990.
A dodgy withdrawal also occurred while Mr Vantilburg was on the phone to the bank complaining about the frauds.
Mr Vantilburg immediately cancelled his credit card, but when he chased up the matter a few weeks later he was told no fraud report had been made in Bendigo Bank’s system.
Melbourne tree lopper Walter Vantilburg was the victim of credit card scammers
Mr Vantilburg also claimed Bendigo Bank had told him he was at fault and accused him of giving out his credit card details and authorising their use in an Apple wallet.
He denied this ever happened and has no idea how the thieves got access to his credit card details which he used for his tree cutting business.
‘The card never leaves me or my wallet. I use it for fuel, it’s really a business card, that’s the major thing it’s used for things like repairs and parts,’ he told news.com.au.
Mr Vantilburg said he had made a report to the police but the cops needed more information to take further action.
Mr Vantilburg, who was left ‘shocked’, launched his own investigation and contacted the five JB Hi-Fi stores where the bogus transactions took place.
The first store told him there was nothing that could be done, but the information would be handed on to their forensics team.
Mr Vantilburg’s visit to the next JB Hi-Fi paid off after the manager printed out all the receipts.
The helpful store manager also uncovered footage which revealed two crooks making dicey purchases.
The Bendigo Bank left Mr Vantilburg to investigate the crooks himself
The suspected thieves grifted three Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 phones, three Google Pixel 9 Pro phones and an iPad pro with pencil from across the five stores.
Mr Vantilburg said he felt he had no choice but to do his own investigations as he had been left in ‘disbelief’ by Bendigo Bank’s response.
‘This is what I don’t understand. Bendigo Bank more or less suggests that I had something to do with it,’ he said.
‘They said it’s your fault we are not going to help you – that’s the attitude I got back. I got no help from them. They just said you have given your card to someone.’
Mr Vantilburg said he had been a loyal customer for 20 to 30 years and described the ‘lack of caring’ as ‘unbelievable’.
He said to make that $14,000 in savings he had to complete $30,000 worth of work.
Mr Vantilburg said he’s getting married in February and was hoping to pay off the last remaining money he owed to his ex-wife, but the $14,000 loss made the opportunity at a ‘fresh start’ impossible.
It’s understood Bendigo Bank backflipped on its original decision after his story went public and informed Mr Vantilburg the $14,000 would be refunded.
A Victorian Police spokesperson confirmed cops are investigating a suspected theft and fraud in Melbourne’s East on September 12.
‘It is believed two unknown offenders used a stolen credit card at multiple stores in Camberwell, Nunawading, Forest Hill, Eastland, and Knox,’ the spokesperson said.
‘An estimated $14,000 was spent on the credit card. The investigation remains ongoing.’
A Bendigo Bank spokesman said it did not comment on customer matters specifically.
He said the bank takes cyber security very seriously by protecting their customers and safeguarding their systems with a variety of cybercrime prevention methods.
‘It is important customers take steps to protect themselves and do not share their passwords or allow someone they don’t know or trust to log in to their computer remotely, as it is extremely difficult to recover money that has been transferred to scammers,’ he said.
‘Bendigo Bank attempts to recover funds lost to scams wherever possible and it goes without saying when the bank is at fault, we will reimburse customers for the loss of funds.’
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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