Dea and Jamie
Adelaide
Lost: $ 8,500
Take away learning:
Friday afternoons are common days to commit this fraud
Jamie tried to call his fiance Dea to pick her up from work one Friday, but his phone had lost service. Thinking it was a billing issue, he ignored it.
When Jamie tried to open his gmail email account later that evening to retrieve movie tickets, he realised his password didn't work. He then checked his Commonwealth Bank NetBank account and was shocked to see $8,500 had been taken from his joint wedding account with Dea.
The couple tried to put a freeze on their bank accounts, but had not yet realised Jamie's phone was the reason for the breach. Jamie had not received an SMS warning him his number was being transferred to another provider.
Because it was a Friday night it was much harder to stop the problem, and make the many calls needed to their bank and mobile phone provider. Criminals often move late on a Friday afternoon for this reason.
Eventually their money was returned, but Jamie was locked out of his accounts for 30 days. It took many hours to resolve the issues arising from the incident, and both Dea and Jamie were surprised to hear that it only took someone's full name, date of birth and mobile number for an un-authorised port to occur.
Kent Lin
Sydney
Lost: Several hundred dollars
Take away learning:
Contact your telco immediately after you receive a porting-related message
Kent had his phone number ported twice in four days. He received a text from a virtual mobile phone provider that he didn't recognise, and after trying to call the three-digit number it appeared to come from, he could not connect. He dismissed it as spam.
The next day, his phone didn't work. He could not get a signal where he normally used to. He realised hundreds of dollars had been taken from his Commonwealth Bank account via an ATM in Leichhardt in Sydney. He also noticed a substantial charge from a mobile phone service provider for a prepaid SIM card.
Kent suspects a replacement debit card he had been waiting for was stolen from his letterbox, and a new password was set up by the criminals over the phone allowing them to activate the card for use in an ATM.
Although the bank eventually refunded his money, the process took three months to resolve and required Kent to make a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Garth Jones
NSW
Lost: $10, 000
Take away learning:
Protect your credit report
Garth's computer and email account was broken into by a scammer who took soft copies of personal documents including driver’s licences, passports, Medicare cards, credit cards, banking details, salary slips, contracts, academic documents belonging to him and his wife.
The hacker faked Garth's identity and ported both his and his wife's mobile phones. This gave the criminal access to their bank accounts. Despite locking their accounts with their bank, the hacker used their ID documents to unlock them.
In addition to cardless transactions the criminal used Garth's name to access credit. As soon as he saw this in his credit report, Garth reported it as fraud to the credit rating agencies.
Taken from ACCAN 2018 report.
* Name changed and model used in photograph