Victims of Apple iPhone Max scam criticise Telstra’s response to identity theft

More Adelaide victims of mobile phone fraud have come forward, including a woman targeted twice within three months.

More South Australian Telstra customers have been victims of identity theft with scammers using their details to order expensive mobile phones.

Two customers of the telecommunications giant contacted The Advertiser revealing they had been targeted by a suspected hacker who ordered Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max and new numbers without their authority in January and April this year.

Sue Fleming, of Belair and David Holland, of Colonel Light Gardens, also said the scammers changed personal details on their accounts.

The frauds were discovered only when the pair said they received delivery tracking numbers from StarTrack for addresses they did not recognise.

The pair came forward after The Advertiser revealed on May 6 the telecommunications giant had sacked an employee of its Norwood licensee store for fraudulently contracting mobile phones.

One alleged victim, Dr Alvin Chua, said at the time an iPhone 12 Pro Max phone and new number had been issued in his name in December using his driver’s licence photo, the last five digits of his credit card and an “incorrect address” and a “misspelt middle name”.

Hackers have been targeting Telstra customers and ordering Apple iPhone 12 Max handsets.

Ms Fleming said two phones were ordered on her account in January and shipped to a Sydney address. She said she managed to stop the order but was unable to access her online account as her password, email address and home address had been changed “by a hacker”.

“It took me two weeks to get through by phone to Telstra and finally to the fraud department to get them to do anything about the identity theft and fraud on my account,” she said.

“It was a disgraceful performance by Telstra, but finally they placed a credit on my account for the inconvenience.”

She said Telstra advised her account was upgraded and secure. She said she had been led to believe she was the victim of an internal Telstra fraud.

On April 1 she was again targeted in the same scam.

“I’ve come to believe that Telstra are playing fast and loose with people’s account data,” she said. “How can I be subject to an identical fraud twice in three months if security has been improved?”

Mr Holland said he received a text from StarTrack on April 29 advising an order had been dispatched to Highbury.

“I was able to stop it straight away and raised a case number with them and Telstra and rang the police and filed a cybercrime report,” he said.

A Telstra spokesperson said a review of the pair’s accounts had confirmed the frauds occurred due to identity theft committed by an “unknown external party”.

“The illegally acquired handsets have now been removed from their accounts and Telstra has wiped any current and future charges,” the spokesperson said.

“In these two cases, the scammers were able to provide the correct details to all our ID check questions and purchase mobile devices which were then sent to different addresses interstate.

“Criminals can gain identities in a variety of ways including stolen bills, computer or telephone scams or by collecting personal details from public social media sites.”