A WA mum has been saved from losing $1.2 million in a sophisticated property scam after a sharp-eyed banker spotted a tiny typo just hours before settlement on her first home.

The woman had walked into Westpac’s Riverton branch believing she was making a routine transfer ahead of buying a $1.7 million property.

She was preparing to use a $500,000 loan and $1.2 million of her savings to complete the purchase later that day when she received an email appearing to come from her solicitor.

The message urged her to urgently transfer the money into a settlement account.

But something did not sit right with personal banker Neet Kukreja.

Having worked with the young mum throughout her homebuying journey, Ms Kukreja immediately noticed the urgency did not match their previous conversations.

“She phoned me saying she was preparing for settlement on her home and needed to make a transfer right away,” Ms Kukreja said.

“The customer was quite panicked, and she said she needed to make a transfer because settlement was happening at 12pm Eastern time.

“I told her to come down to the branch and we would sort it out together.”

Instead of processing the $1.2 million payment, Ms Kukreja paused and began checking the details.

“The tone (of the email) was slightly different. It didn’t read like the previous emails, and that made me pause,” she said.

Her suspicions grew when she noticed the instructions did not match the usual settlement process.

“The email asked her to transfer funds into a settlement account, which didn’t line up with how these payments usually work,” she said.

Ms Kukreja then cross-checked the email chain and noticed a staff member supposedly involved in the conversation was actually on leave.

Then came the tiny detail that exposed the elaborate scam.

The email address of a supposed Westpac employee contained the word “westtpac” — with an extra “t”.

The scammers had copied legitimate email signatures and communication styles almost perfectly.

“In the same email chain, there was an email from who the customer had dealt with before, confirming the solicitor’s instructions,” Ms Kukreja said.

“But when I checked on Microsoft Teams, I could see that the employee in question was actually on leave and couldn’t have sent the email.

“They’d copied everything else, even her email signature, perfectly. It was nearly — nearly — a perfect replica.”

The Riverton team contacted the settlement agent, who confirmed no payment request had been made and revealed their email account had been hacked.

The mother was left in tears when she realised how close she had come to losing her life savings.

“She was a young mother and it was her life savings,” Ms Kukreja said.

“When she realised how close she had come, she was in tears.

“These scammers are so sophisticated. You have to question everything.

“I was so glad I was able to prevent it from happening in this instance.”

The attempted theft is an example of a growing threat known as a business email compromise scam, where criminals hack legitimate email accounts and use them to send convincing fake payment instructions.

Property transactions have become a major target, with scammers exploiting the pressure and complexity around settlements to trick buyers into moving large sums of money.

Westpac head of fraud prevention Ben Young urged homebuyers to slow down and verify any request to transfer funds.

“Buying a property is one of the biggest financial decisions most people will ever make and unfortunately scammers will try to take advantage of that,” he said.

“Anyone asked to transfer funds should slow down and verify the details, particularly if payment instructions change unexpectedly or come through on email.

“A quick phone call can make all the difference and help prevent life-changing losses.”

The near miss comes as National Anti-Scam Centre data shows Australians lost $166.8 million to payment redirection scams in the past year.

Ms Kukreja said the best defence was taking a moment before acting.

“Scammers rely on urgency and fear,” she said. “Taking a moment to pause, ask questions and verify details could save you a fortune.”