Jacob Weitering bank scam: How did Jacob Weitering lose his life savings?

In April 2023, Jacob Weitering publicly acknowledged that his entire life savings had been stolen through a sophisticated phone scam. Scammers convinced Weitering to give them his passwords and account details, which they used to drain his bank accounts.

By the time he realised what had happened, it was too late, and he had lost his life savings.

‘It was perfect. The text, the caller ID, the blocking of the suspicious transaction,’ Jacob said.

‘I sent them the money directly. That was the biggest mistake that I made, and that was built off the back of the trust built over the phone, the perfect role playing at their end and then them playing on my emotions’, according to Jacob

The AFL star had been instructed to move his money into a ‘safeguarding account’ while a team he thought was from the National Australia Bank fixed data security issues.

Only to have his accounts drained clean by criminals.

Weitering admitted that he thought he was savvy enough to avoid such scams before he fell victim.

Jacob Weitering considered himself a seven or eight out of 10 in terms of being technologically savvy before the incident, but he now rates himself as low as two or three.