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A father who was looking forward to retirement lost his life savings in a cruel scam and is now struggling to make ends meet.
For the past 40 years, Renato Calalan has worked incredibly hard in all kinds of jobs to make the best of his life.
The 60-year-old has always believed in the importance of saving every penny, and that’s exactly what he’s been doing for decades as he looks to a relaxed retirement.
With about $150,000 in his bank account, Renato was confident that he and his family would be financially secure even when he reached pension age in the near future.
But now, after opening an email from someone claiming to be from a bank in his native Philippines, all his dreams have been snatched out from under him in an instant.
Renato immigrated to Australia from Manila in 1986 and still has many extended family members back home, some of whom he has never met.
So when I received an email saying that a relative had passed away and left some money in his will, I didn’t think it was entirely possible.
But sadly, opening that email was the worst mistake Renato ever made.
“I received an email from a guy called Steve Gold who said he was the owner of a bank in Manila,” the warehouse worker told News.com.au.
“He said I was entitled to an inheritance of €3.8 million and that I just needed to provide details, which I did.
“He also submitted all the documents for the person he said was my cousin, including all the death certificates.
“It seemed legitimate because I have a cousin with the same name as the person on the document.
“I was told that I need to open a bank in the Philippines to get my inheritance. But to do this, I need to deposit some money.
“However, I was not able to send the money directly to the bank, but the bank’s agent in Australia said they could help me instead.
“So I deposited some funds into my Commonwealth Bank account, the same bank I use.
“It made me feel like nothing bad could happen, and that if something went wrong I could call the Commonwealth Bank for help.”
Have you been a victim of a scam? Contact: jasmine.kazlauskas@news.com.au
“There was nothing left.”
For the next three months, Renato explained that she faithfully continued to make deposits when they requested it, expecting to receive her inheritance soon.
Eventually he had nothing left.
In retrospect, he says, he can see how clearly it was a scam, but in the moment it felt so real that he even spoke to one of the scammers on the phone, believing the scammer was real. He said he heard it.
With very little money left, he reported what had happened to the police, Fraud Watch and his bank, but unfortunately nothing happened.
“I was devastated. I went to the Commonwealth Bank in September 2023 for help and told them what had happened,” Renato explained.
“I told them what happened and they investigated the case. Two months later they said I had been scammed. They said they couldn’t collect it.
“The man I spoke to was based in the Netherlands. I spoke to him once. “He was very persuasive. Very soft-spoken and nothing seemed out of place.”
Renato said he understands that he was the victim of the scam, but he wishes the bank had taken some security measures.
“Having this amount of money out at all times would certainly be flagged as suspicious,” he says.
“I wish they would have let me know that this was a scam. If you see someone’s account going down, there’s obviously something wrong.
“But they just said it was my fault. But the scammers have bank accounts in the Commonwealth.
“I’ve been a customer of theirs for nearly 40 years, but I still feel like I was treated like another number.”
“I still feel sick.”
With little left to his name, Renato found himself having to “start from the bottom” again at the age of 60.
He says he has a wife and children to support and feels “depressed” and “anxious” about their future.
“I’ve worked so hard all my life just for this to happen,” he said.
“I was looking forward to a bright future and a relaxed retirement. But instead, I’m not just living from hand to hand.
“Financial freedom has been taken away and self-esteem is at a very low point.
“My family is the only thing supporting me at the moment.”
He is sharing his experience to raise awareness and hopes to prevent others from falling victim to scammers in the future.
Mr Renato is also hopeful that the Commonwealth Bank may still be able to recover some of the money.
“I’m still trying to sort out what happened. I still feel sick just thinking about the fact that I was scammed,” he said.
“I still hope that the bank will give me back some of my money, if not all of it. I have to live with hope.
“It’s truly terrifying that there are criminals targeting innocent people. I truly hope that no one else has to go through a similar ordeal.”
Commonwealth Bank response
A CBA spokesperson confirmed to news.com.au that they are aware of this type of fraud and urged customers to be especially careful when sending money to people they don’t know.
“CBA recognizes the financial and emotional burden that fraud places on our customers and communities,” they said.
“We are aware of instances where scammers offer false promises such as inheritance or distribution of large sums of money. This may be done via phone call, text message or email.
“In communicating with customers, scammers request payment of a small upfront fee.
“The CBA urges people to be wary and ‘do not do it’ when asked to send money. Check. ‘Reject’ when assessing payment requests.
“This includes taking extra time to consult a trusted family member or friend as a sounding board before making a payment to an unknown recipient when a large sum in return is promised.
“If you believe you have been scammed, or if you notice unusual transactions or transactions that did not occur to you, contact your bank immediately.”
They added that they had tried unsuccessfully to recover some of Mr Kararan’s money.
“In this case, Mr. Calalan made multiple transfers to multiple banks over a two-month period in response to the fraudster’s instructions that he would part with a large inheritance,” they said.
“When we contacted CBA about the transfers made by Mr. Kararan, we immediately attempted to recover the funds but were unsuccessful.
“For more information on how to protect yourself from scams and scams, including information about common types of scams, please visit: http://www.commbank.com.au/safe. ”
