ANZ bank called out after Australian loses $56,000 in alarming scam

The founder of a small business who was scammed out of $56,000 has criticised ANZ Bank, telling him he should have implemented a security measure he had no idea existed.

Roland Sharman, who founded Sail Shade World 18 years ago and remains the company’s director, discovered he had lost more than AU$56,000 in 21 fraudulent credit card transactions in July.

Mr Sharman told Daily Mail Australia that products were shipped to Jordan in the Middle East, but the credit card details used in the transaction were stolen. The money was withdrawn and the goods disappeared.

He had very few problems with non-payments as his business expanded to over 50 countries. He moved to Vienna, Austria, to be closer to his family.

Mr Sharman said ANZ had increased its transaction fee from 1.8 per cent to 3 per cent for added security as the company began taking on so many international orders.

He claims the bank failed to inform him about a crucial cybersecurity measure, called 3DSecure, that would have protected him from the scammers.

Now ANZ refuses to help Mr Sharman, claiming he is technically guilty because he exposed himself to fraud by not using 3DSecure.

A small business founder who was scammed out of $56,000 has criticised ANZ Bank for telling him he should have used a security measure he had no idea was available (stock image)

Businessman Roland Sharman (pictured) has targeted ANZ after he was scammed out of more than AU$56,000 in 21 fraudulent credit card transactions processed by the bank in July.

The 80-year-old said he felt “sick” when he saw the transactions being cancelled because they were fraudulent.

“We had already processed 21 transactions and we thought, ‘No, my God, what do we do now?’” he said.

“That’s a really oppressive feeling.”

According to Mr Sharman, ANZ responded to the scammers by blaming the businessman.

A bank spokesperson told him it was not their “responsibility to ensure your safety,” Sharman said.

“I’m sorry, I think so, I really think so,” he added.

The cost of adding 3DSecure to his processing fees is five cents per transaction. Mr Sharman said he would have gladly paid the fee if he had known about it.

“This was completely preventable. I mean, they raised our rate and said it was because of the complexity of cybersecurity for foreign companies… What on earth is that for?” he asked.

Mr Sharman estimates the increased costs cost his company hundreds of thousands of dollars over its lifetime, but when push came to shove there was no protection whatsoever.

Mr Sharman said the bank had denied any responsibility for the transactions as it did not have proper cybersecurity in place, making it responsible for the loss of money.

After endless communication with ANZ representatives to resolve the issue, Mr Sharman filed an official complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) on August 16.

He said his lawyer argued that banks had overstepped the mark by profiting from such online transactions but then refused to take financial responsibility when their payment systems enabled fraud.

“It may well be that, as cybercrime continues to increase, we are very close to being able to enforce such a duty of care against banks in the courts,” Sharman said.

Since then he has a GoFundMe to recover some of the money he lost to the scam, but also to start a movement that forces banks to take responsibility for cybercrime on their systems, and to push the courts to better protect their customers.

“There should be legislation to prevent this,” Sharman said.

‘As a bank, you have a fiduciary responsibility. You cannot allow your customers to be at risk when there is a way to prevent that.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted ANZ for comment.