Australians given small window to escape Iran-Israel warzone
A brief halt in hostilities has given Australians trying to get out a window to attempt to leave the warzone.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
24 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘You're on your own': Tradie's $17,000 scam nightmare
A tradie has been left gutted after losing over $17,000 in an elaborate spoofing scam. Bradley Turner runs a cementing company called Pure Deco and he never thought that he would become a scam victim. On June 1st on a lazy Sunday Mr Turner, who lives in Sydney with his wife and young child, received a text message that appeared to be from his bank ANZ. He believed the message was legitimate because it appeared in an already-established message chain he had with the bank. The message alerted him that his voice ID had been updated and that if he didn't request this change, he should contact the number written below immediately. The 33-year-old panicked because he hadn't updated any verifications with the bank and it was for his business account. The tradie insisted he never would have rung the number if he had just received a text message from a random number, but because it appeared to be from ANZ on his phone and was alongside other official messages, he fell for it. 'I'm pretty clued in,' Mr Turner told 'The guy made me panic. I spoke to three people, they make you panic.' Mr Turner was unaware that scammers are becoming more sophisticated and using state-of-the-art technology to 'spoof' their numbers and get into established texting threads. When the tradie rang the number included in the text, he was told that someone was trying to scam his account from New Zealand and he needed to immediately transfer his money to a new secure account. He was then sent a follow-up text with his new bank details and, once again, the text appeared on his previous ANZ text chain. From his perspective, it all sounded legit. If anything, he thought he was preventing himself from being scammed. Mr Turner transferred two separate payments, one totalling $16,941 and another payment of around $7000, to the new bank account. At first, he didn't think anything was wrong and even felt relieved that he had seen the text and been able to resolve the situation quickly. Then, by chance, a mate rang and Mr Turner told him he'd had a stressful morning dealing with his bank. When he explained what had happened his friend immediately told him to call his bank and double-check. 'I've never dealt with a scam or fraud call before. There were a couple of red flags, but of course, you don't think about it until you're finished,' he said. 'I rang ANZ and was told it was a scam. I had to report it to the police.' Even though he contacted the bank only an hour and a half after he made the transfers, it was already mostly too late. ANZ was able to stop the $7000 transfer, but the almost $17,000 sum was already with another bank. Mr Turner was horrified after realising what had happened. 'It felt horrendous. I felt like I'd been violated. You feel so violated that someone has managed to trick you,' he said. He argued that losing that amount of money is serious and can derail a person's life, saying $17,000 is 'a lot no matter who you are'. The bank reportedly told Mr Turner that there was no way to recover his money, with the tradie claiming the message was basically 'you're on your own', which left him fuming. 'They make it like you should know about this already. This (scam) was really well done and scamming is getting a lot bigger,' he said. Ultimately, he was told that, because he completed the initial transfer, it was basically on him and the money was gone. When asked about Mr Turner's experience, ANZ said in a statement it was unable to comment on individual customers. 'We always attempt to recover funds customers have lost to scams or fraud,' it said. 'However, the ability to recover funds depends on a number of factors including how quickly it is reported to us, whether they are transferred to another financial institution, and the speed in which funds are then on-transferred by scammers. In many instances, cyber criminals on-transfer funds within minutes, or use them to purchase cryptocurrency.' Mr Turner said he wants the bank to take responsibility for the fact the scammers were able to successfully get into the same texting chain and spoof their official communications. 'It came through their feed and it is so frustrating. I don't see how they can wipe their hands of it,' he said. 'If it was through a random number I'd understand.' At the end of the day, he feels ANZ should take more responsibility and he feels his trust in the bank has been broken. 'They've let me down and now they just want to palm me off,' he said. The tradie believes he isn't fully at fault because it comes down to ANZ not having the 'right security' and, as a result, there should be a way for him to get his money back. Losing the $17,000 stung badly because the money was there to pay his workers and now it is just gone. 'Things are expensive. You're trying to run a business. It was from my business account, and I have seven employees. That is a couple of weeks of wages. Do I send the boys to collect the wages from (ANZ)?' he asked. Mr Turner isn't alone. In February, reported an eerily similar story about another Aussie tradie who lost $58,000 in a spoofing scam. Furkan Colak, from Melbourne, was in the process of trying to buy a house while also saving up for his dad's knee surgery when he received a text message that looked to be from ANZ but was actually from a scammer. Mr Colak previously told that the whole experience left him 'shaking' and it has been tough to get over losing so much money. 'It comes to the point where you're almost over it and then you think what you could have done with the money,' he said.
ABC News
29 minutes ago
- ABC News
Canberra man jailed for raping customer in shopping centre art shop where he worked
A man accused of raping a customer in a Canberra shopping centre art shop where he worked is behind bars after an ACT Supreme Court jury found him guilty within four hours. It is the second time Abhishek Timalsina has been tried for the crime, which occurred in the Westfield Belconnen store's staff room in November 2022. The first jury was unable to reach a verdict, but yesterday another jury found Timalsina guilty of two counts or rape and four acts of indecency. The original case was significant because it was the first test of the ACT's new affirmative consent laws, which apply a different standard to the evidence. Consent is now required to be both free and voluntary, and has to be communicated to the other party. That means consent can no longer be presumed. The woman had gone to the shop to enquire about a refund when the pair began talking about her art and his photography. The events were not disputed. But on Timalsina's version, the pair were flirting, and the woman had been laughing and smiling when he leaned in and kissed her. The court heard Timalsina asked her if she "wanted to do something crazy". He told the court they had been "vibing", and he thought he had consent and that the woman was enjoying the attention. The woman later told a friend that during the incident her brain had "checked out". She admitted she had kissed him back, but as things escalated, she stopped reacting. The woman took herself to hospital in the immediate aftermath, to be examined. Timalsina's bail has been revoked, and he was taken away to jail. He will be sentenced in August.
Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
- Daily Telegraph
Court D-Day arrives for Antoinette Lattouf over ABC sacking
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. Journalist Antoinette Lattouf will today learn her fate after she sued the ABC over their decision to take her from the air in the wake of a series of pro-Palestine social media posts. Ms Lattouf sued the ABC in the Federal Court after she was sent home for the final two days of a five-day stint on ABC Radio's Sydney Mornings program in the lead up to Christmas in 2023. Ms Lattouf was called up as a fill-in host for five shifts starting on Monday, December 18, but was told not to come in for the final two shows. She had claimed she was unlawfully dismissed after sharing a post on social media by Human Rights Watch reading: 'HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war. 'The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza' She says that she was sacked after sharing the post about the Israel-Gaza war and as a result of a flurry of emails from pro-Israel supporters. Justice Darryl Rangiah is due to hand down his findings in the Federal Court on Wednesday morning. The ABC argued that Ms Lattouf's employment was not terminated and that when she was told that she was not required to appear on air on Thursday, December 21 and Friday, December 22, it was not motivated by her political opinions. Antoinette Lattouf sued the ABC for unlawful termination. Picture: NewsWire/Flavio Brancaleone. Ms Lattouf's legal team argued that she was rendered 'pretty much unemployable' as a result of the saga having been accused of misconduct by the ABC. She argues that she suffered 'significant pain, hurt, humiliation and distress as a result of the egregious treatment meted out to her by the ABC' and that her 'reputation was sullied'. Ms Lattouf was asking the court for $100,000 to $150,000 for non-economic loss. In the Federal Court her legal team alleged former ABC chair Ita Buttrose, then-managing director David Anderson and head of content Chris Oliver-Taylor made the decision to axe her after receiving a host of complaints about her pro-Palestinian politics. During the blockbuster trial, the court heard that Ms Buttrose fired off an email to managing editor David Anderson on Tuesday, December 19. 'Has Antoinette been replaced. I am over getting emails about her,' Ms Buttrose said in the email. Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short During her evidence, Ms Buttrose denied that this was proof that she wanted Ms Lattouf fired. 'If I wanted somebody removed, I'd be franker than that,' Ms Buttrose told the court at the time. The court heard that Mr Anderson replied: 'Antoinette will finish up on Friday. It's a managed exit given the situation. I can explain more tomorrow.' Ms Buttrose followed it up with another email at 9.59pm: 'I have a whole clutch more of complaints. Why can't she come down with flu? Or Covid. Or a stomach upset? We owe her nothing, we are copping criticism because she wasn't honest when she was appointed. 'Managed exit. Really. 'I don't like emailing you late but I am wrapping present. We should be in damage control not managed exits David.' Ex-ABC managing director David Anderson. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short Much of the case centred on what Ms Lattouf was told in a telephone conversation with her boss, then ABC Radio Sydney content director Elizabeth Green, on the afternoon of Monday December 18 – the day of the first of her five shifts. Ms Green told the court that she told Ms Lattouf: 'Obviously as an ABC presenter, you need to be impartial, that includes on social media. I wouldn't give anyone any ammunition for complaints, so would be best if you don't post anything related to the Israel/Palestine situation on social media while you're with us.' While Ms Lattouf told the court that she was told by Ms Green: 'It's probably best that you keep a low profile on Twitter and maybe don't tweet anything.' The court heard that following the discovery of some of Ms Lattouf's social media posts, Mr Oliver-Taylor texted Mr Anderson on Wednesday, December 20 saying that Ms Lattouf had: 'breached our editorial policies while in our employment. 'She also failed to follow a direction from her producer not to post anything while working with the ABC. As a result of this, I have no option but to stand her down.' Ms Lattout was paid for all five shifts. 'On Wednesday, 20 December 2023, Ms Lattouf was advised that she would not be required to present on Thursday, 21 December 2023 and Friday, 22 December 2023, being the last two shifts of the engagement,' the ABC's lawyers said in its submissions to the court. 'That is, the ABC altered the work that Ms Lattouf was required to undertake on the last two shifts by not requiring her to undertake any work – as it was contractually expressly entitled to do.' The ABC has asked the court to dismiss Ms Lattouf's lawsuit. Originally published as Court D-Day arrives for Antoinette Lattouf over ABC sacking
