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‘I’m a stubborn old turd’: This 73-year-old Australian man says his bank failed to protect him from a ‘ghost tapping’ scam — now he’s risking bankruptcy to make them pay

A 73-year-old man in Australia has launched a legal war against one of the country’s biggest banks — and he may be the first scam victim to ever take things this far.

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According to a recent report from ABC News Australia, pensioner Ian Williams is suing National Australia Bank (NAB) for $379 million after it said he was responsible for $1,338 in transactions he said he didn’t recognize.

After CCTV footage collected by the police proved it wasn’t him who made those transactions, the bank said it would return the money in full under two conditions.

Williams refused.

"It’s the principle of the thing. I just won’t wear being called a liar," he said. “I’m a stubborn old turd, and I will not give up.”

Here’s what happened.

Fraudulent $1,338 charge on account

It all began in October 2022. Williams says he discovered two suspicious charges on his account — $515 and $823 — at a Coles supermarket in Bundoora, a suburb 150 kilometers away from his home.

When he contacted NAB’s digital subsidiary, uBank, he says a representative told him the transactions were made using his Google Pay account.

"They said that I was guilty, I was responsible, I was personally at Coles to do the transactions with my phone and my thumbprint," he said.

His maps app and sleep-tracking app both supported his claim he was in Bendigo around that time. He had call and text logs which showed his friend was coming over that morning. He also made a statement at the police station and sent it to the bank, but it was not enough.

Eventually, CCTV footage confirmed that the shopper wasn’t him — police said it showed “two young males” using what appeared to be cloned card credentials on phones.

That’s when the bank offered to reimburse him the $1,338 — on the condition that he sign a non-disclosure agreement and agree that the payment did not mean the bank was taking responsibility for the missing funds.

Five months after Williams declined, a second offer of $1,500 came with strings attached: no legal action allowed. He turned that down too.

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The court battle

What followed was a year-long journey of legal research and late nights. He said no civil lawyer he met was willing to take on his case without fees.

Williams represented himself and filed a 14-page writ against NAB, alleging the bank failed to secure his banking credentials and transaction data, failed to use its fraud detection protocols, breached its duty to "protect customers from unauthorised transactions" and violated obligations under Australia’s ePayments Code by not conducting a fair and transparent investigation.

He argued that the $1,338 loss represented 5.5% of his annual pension — and therefore is seeking 5.5% of NAB’s 2022 profit after tax: $379.05 million. "Things need to be proportionate," he said.

In a brief courtroom victory earlier this year, the bank failed to respond in time, and a default judgment was awarded in Williams’ favor.

But NAB’s lawyers later had the judgment overturned, citing a paperwork issue. The case is now headed for a full hearing — and if Williams loses, he could be on the hook for the bank’s legal fees, which he says could bankrupt him.

Any money he wins he wants to donate to Indigenous health charities.

How was Williams scammed?

It’s likely Williams was the victim of “ghost tapping.” In such cases, the scammer steals credit card details to register the card on their phone’s digital wallet.

According to ABC News Australia, “Williams did receive text messages a few days before the fraudulent transaction went through, with a passcode for him to confirm he wanted to add his card to a new Google Pay account.”

In the U.S., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) placed Google Pay under federal supervision late last year citing consumer complaints. The effort was abandoned this year by the new acting CFPB director Russell Vought, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. The U.S. version of the Google Pay app was shut down in June 2024.

Owners of credit and debit cards should take these precautions:

Don’t provide codes: Text messages may contain one-time codes to authorize adding your card to a phone wallet, so don’t share them with potential scammers over the phone or online. Scammers may pretend to be your financial institution.
Avoid entering card details on unfamiliar websites: Many ghost tapping scams begin with fake checkout pages designed to harvest your information.
Use alerts and two-factor authentication: Enable real-time transaction alerts from your bank to catch fraudulent activity early.
Contact your bank immediately: Report it if anything seems off — and escalate to law enforcement or a financial complaints body if needed.