Phone number porting scam grows in Australia with thousands of dollars stolen from victims

FIRST they steal your phone number, then they steal your money. The growing phone scam that can drain your bank account in hours. How to stop it.

EXCLUSIVE: An insidious new wave of cyber crime is hitting Australian smartphone users, who are first robbed of their mobile phone number and then robbed of cash from their bank accounts.

One victim, who was fraudulently charged with a $10,000 cash advance, said the growing smartphone scam was ”common knowledge within the industry,” and online safety experts warned telephone carriers and banks needed to stop ignoring the issue to shut down the fraudsters.

Gold Coast businesswoman Cynthia Dammerer discovered she had been targeted by criminals after her mobile phone mysteriously went out of service after 9pm one night.

While she initially thought her phone network was down, she later discovered the fraudsters had also broken into her email account and tried to change her password.

“I called Telstra and they said I had moved my number over to Vodafone and I’d have to go into a store to sort it out,” she said. “I had no idea.”

Ms Dammerer said scammers had moved her phone number to an untraceable Vodafone prepaid account so it could be used to verify bank account transactions, and potentially create new accounts.

“They did it all online,” she said. “They didn’t even have to go into a shop.

“I’ve been with Telstra since 1979 and I don’t understand why they wouldn’t message me to say ‘are you sure you want to take your phone number to Vodafone?’”

Cynthia Dammerer said scammers moved her Telstra phone number to an untraceable Vodafone repaid account online.

Ms Dammerer’s experience was not an isolated incident, with a growing number of phone porting scams reported this year.

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A Sydney man, 34, who asked to remain anonymous, said he discovered his wife’s phone number had been stolen, along with money from a joint bank account, after her phone was disconnected.

“We had an NAB account that was being closed down and I noticed it had a $10,000 cash advance on it that had been withdrawn. My wife wouldn’t have done that,” he said.

“When I got home she said her phone wasn’t working so I called Telstra and they said we’d set up a new SIM card.”

The man, who reported the fraud to the police, said the scammers used very basic personal details to steal the phone number, and he was shocked customers weren’t better protected.

“I think it’s common knowledge within the industry,” he said. “Telstra needs to better protect customers’ security. We’re lucky because we caught it early and the bank was good about it.”

Australians lost $711,951 to identity theft last year, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, including more than $91,000 in December alone.

More than one in five identity scams involved a telephone.

Cyber safety consultant Leonie Smith said one of her clients had her phone number stolen three times, despite flagging the first theft with her phone provider.

Ms Smith, also known as the Cyber Safety Lady, said it was far too easy for scammers to take advantage of lax mobile phone number porting rules, and carriers should introduce passwords or PIN codes rather than relying on easily accessed personal information.

“We need to get banks and telcos to increase their security,” Ms Smith said.

“Two-step verification (with SMS messages) is great but if a scammer has your phone number, it’s not going to work. There are other options and we have to have more protections for the consumer.”

Phone users should remove their phone number from social media to avoid being scammed, she said, ask their phone carrier to place a PIN code on their account, and lock down their Facebook profiles to avoid being scammed.

Those who find their identity has been stolen can seek help from government-funded service IDCare on 1300 432 273.