Within an hour of taking over her phone number, they got into her internet banking
THE relative ease with which criminals were able to hack into the phone of Eryn Ford, of Stanhope Gardens, and then steal her identity is truly terrifying.
Rouse Hill
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rouse Hill. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE relative ease with which criminals were able to hack into his wife’s phone and then steal her identity has turned Brad Ford into a campaigner to prevent this happening to others.
The ID theft has since forced Mr Ford and his wife Eryn, of Stanhope Gardens, to apply for new passports, drivers licences, close their bank accounts and change virtually anything which could identify themselves.
“It’s very scary to see how it easy they were able to steal my wife’s ID details but our service provider Optus won’t tell us how it was done,” said Mr Ford, who has an IT background.
Alarm bells sounded when Mr Ford noticed his wife’s mobile connection wasn’t working recently.
When he received an alert on his phone saying her Facebook password had changed a few minutes later, he called the bank and local police.
“My wife left the house to head up to the shops (on January 7) and noticed that her phone had no service,” said Mr Ford said.
“Someone had phoned our telephone provider Optus and pretended to be her, requesting to activate a new prepaid SIM card.
“Within minutes the thieves were now in control of my wife’s number. Within four minutes they had requested a recovery SMS from our email address.
“This was just the start.
“The thieves sifted through thousands of emails till they found what they were after, our bank statements.
“This was the golden ticket, and what they were after. Within 30 minutes they had logged into her Facebook, using the SMS recovery option.
“From here they were able to obtain her date of birth, the last piece of the puzzle to get into our bank account.
“So within an hour of taking over her phone number, they had got into our internet banking and were attempting to increase our daily withdrawal limit.
“By this stage we were on the phone to Commonwealth Bank and we were all watching this unfold in front of us.
“The bank froze our NetBank but the thieves managed to take out some money at an ATM on the Central Coast before all our cards were completely closed.”
Mr Ford said people can protect their accounts by requesting a PIN.
A spokeswoman for Optus said the company takes fraud allegations “extremely seriously.
“The issue is being investigated to determine whether there has been a breach of our internal policies and procedures. If so, we will take appropriate action,” the spokeswoman said.
“Optus will co-operate with authorities to investigate and resolve the issue.”
Commonwealth Bank said security of their customers’ banking details is a top priority.
“Unfortunately, scams and illegal activity may still occur from time to time,” a spokeswoman said.
“We offer our customers the benefit from our 100 per cent guarantee against online fraud where they are not at fault.
“Where there is fraudulent activity, our process is to fully reimburse our customers as quickly as possible to minimise inconvenience.”
Mr Ford said the events are a brutal reminder of how easy it is for thieves to take over your “digital life”.
“We are currently in the process of getting all our things back in line, we hope by sharing our story it could prevent other locals not fall trap to what we are currently going through,” Mr Ford said.
“We now begin the long process of closing all our bank accounts, getting new passports and drivers licenses reissued, all because of how simple it has become to ‘take over’ someone’s phone.”
COMMONWEALTH BANK SECURITY TIPS
Take a record of any unfamiliar phone numbers so you can report suspicious activity.
Don’t answer unsolicited requests for private information like account numbers, credit card details or personal information.
Alert your mobile phone provider or banking provider if you think you could be the victim of a scam.
“We offer our customers the benefit from our 100 per cent guarantee against online fraud where they are not at fault,” a bank spokeswoman said.
“Where there is fraudulent activity, our process is to fully reimburse our customers as quickly as possible to minimise inconvenience.
“If a customer notices an unusual transaction on their account, they should contact us on 13 2221 immediately to report it.”
Why buyer paid record $900m for shop out west
The buyer who splurged the highest price ever paid for an Aussie retail site has revealed why the Western Sydney property is worth the money.
Sydney suburbs set for explosive price rises after rate cut
A much awaited interest rate cut could set off another housing boom, pushing prices up by more than $30,000 in only the first month across many Sydney areas, new modelling shows.