Dealing in cryptocurrency, Tim Renner was not responsible for customer losses incurred purchasing bitcoin from him then lost as victims of a romance scam. He took steps to ensure customers were purchasing bitcoin on their own account and warned them not to allow anyone else access to their digital wallet.
Mr Renner bought and sold bitcoin, using a Westpac bank account as a trading account. Westpac froze his bank account after receiving complaints from several of Mr Renner’s customers that they were victims of a romance scheme orchestrated by a person known to them as Mr Wilkinson.
Funds frozen totalled $777,200. Scam victims claiming total losses of some $565,000 contacted Westpac demanding repayment from Mr Renner’s bank account.
Westpac put the disputed $565,000 into a suspense account, returning the balance to Mr Renner; leaving the two sides to argue in court over who was entitled to the suspended funds.
The High Court was told the scam victims had been conned online, willingly purchasing bitcoin from Mr Renner and then passing on digital wallet passwords to the persuasive Mr Wilkinson; with him promising he would be moving to New Zealand shortly and could then repay the money borrowed. The money disappeared. As did Mr Wilkinson.
The victims argued Mr Renner must have been in on the scam. The fictitious Mr Wilkinson had directed then to Mr Renner’s bitcoin marketplace and had coached them on what to say and do.
Justice O’Gorman ruled Mr Renner had acted in good faith, without knowledge of the frauds being perpetrated.
Being in the business of selling cryptocurrency, he was entitled to keep proceeds for what to him were bona fide bitcoin sales.
Evidence was given of Mr Renner requiring customer verification, to confirm their identity, and also carrying out due diligence to identify the reason for each purchase.
The script provided by Mr Wilkinson had his victims saying their bitcoin purchases were speculative personal investments, with the possibility of making a profit on sale.
Mr Renner said he had refused to make bitcoin sales to customers who said they were making payment to a boyfriend overseas they had never met.
Westpac v. Renner – High Court (2.12.24)
25.042