Scammers demand $2000 in text messages to ‘stop’ release of Optus information obtained by hackers

Hundreds of South Australians have lined up at Service SA for new driver’s licences after being affected by the Optus hacking scandal.

Hundreds of Optus victims have flooded Service SA to take advantage of the state government’s decision to waive the $20 fee to change a driver’s licence.

Hannah Bakurski was one of the 10,000 Optus customers who had their confidential information leaked online.

“I saw it on the news and thought that’s not good enough,” she said.

But it wasn’t until Ms Bakurski, who studied cyber security at university, checked her emails did she realise she was a victim herself.

“You put your trust in these companies. I’m really disappointed” she said.

Hannah Bakurski had to replace her driver’s licence after she was affected by the Optus breach earlier this week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

Ms Bakurski, who uses Optus’ internet services, says she will be changing providers as soon as she can.

“They’re bad anyway,” she said.

The severity of the incident hasn’t fully set in for Ms Bakurski who anticipates it taking weeks to change her information.

“I’ve had no contact (from Optus) since that email,” she said.

“I didn’t even realised how severe the situation was until I messaged a group chat I have.

“That’s when I found out other people were only being made aware of the situation, and I was one of 10,000 who actually had my information released,” she said.

Ms Bakurski, who has noticed an increase in the amount of spam emails she receives, says Optus have not attempted to contact her or remedy the situation.

“The fact they’ve just handed it over to the police. People’s lives have been affected,” she said.

A man, who must remain anonymous due to his profession in cyber security, told The Advertiser how disappointed he is with the Optus board for “not doing anything to prevent the breach” while waiting in the lengthy Service SA queue for a new license.

This victim, who isn’t a permanent Australian citizen, has taken many hours out of his day to line up and apply for a new licence to prevent his identity being stolen and impacts on his visa applications.

Despite the scandal, the man will continue to use the provider.

“They will fix this issue,” he said, saying it’s unlikely it will occur again.

The cyber security professional launched into action as soon as he received insights Optus’ systems had been compromised.

After filing a complaint with police, the man raised a complaint with IDCARE, Australia and New Zealand’s national identity and cyber support service, in which the man purchased 6-month subscription for assistance, he also applied for a credit report.

He has since contacted Optus and requested reimbursement for the costs associated with protecting his identity and confidential information, however has not received a response.

“I am in the profession, I know how to quickly and efficiently deal with this.

“It is a nightmare for those who aren’t as tech savvy,” he said.

“I don’t think the government pays enough attention to how big the problem is.

“They need to put things in place to prevent these incidents.

“It can happen to any company.

“Service SA might be next,” he said.

The state government announced their decision to waive the fee yesterday.

“Please attend a Service SA centre to apply for a change of licence number, and bring any advice you have received in relation to your data being compromised,” Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said.

The government will seek reimbursement from Optus, he said.

Last Thursday, the personal information of at least 9.8 million current and former Optus customers had been hacked, including names, dates of birth, passport numbers, Medicare numbers, drivers’ licence details and email addresses.

The telco said of the affected customers, 2.8 million had their identification details stolen – which includes things like passport numbers, drivers’ licence numbers and Medicare numbers.

As of Tuesday, the records of 10,000 customers have been released.

A screenshot of OPTUS scam text.

Meanwhile, opportunistic scammers are trying to capitalise on the scandal by messaging vulnerable people asking them to transfer thousands of dollars to have their details erased from the system.

Posing as the hackers, the author of the text message threatens to sell and use personal information within two days if a $2000 payment is not made.

“Hello, Optus has left security measures allowing us to access the personal information of their customers including name, email, phone number, date of birth, address and license number,” the message read.

“Optus has since not responded to our demand of paying the 1M$USD ransom as such your information will be sold and used for fraudulent activity within 2 days or until a payment of $2000AUD is made then the confidential information will be erased off our system.”

The message requests the recipient to bank transfer the money to a Commonwealth bank account and send a screenshot to the sender once completed.

Amanda Lawless posted a screenshot of the message to an Adelaide community page to warn people about the scam.

“Check in on your loved ones and make sure they do not respond to this demand for cash!” she posted.

“If you have received this text do not send them any money and contact Crimestoppers if you need directions on what to do next.”

Speaking to The Advertiser, Ms Lawless said she had received the same message twice within a few hours.

“I just thought it was a bit scary, the fact they were directly asking for money,” she said.

“I was just compelled to get the message out there to people. I have elderly people in my life that are not as tech savvy as the average person and could be very vulnerable to this.”

Ms Lawless has been an Optus customer for 15 years and was contacted by 9 News to inform her that her data had been compromised.

“They told me they’d been sent the information from the hacker and just wanted to confirm that they were my details,” she said.

“It’s been a massive inconvenience, I’m a carer and have enough stuff to manage and just things like changing my driver’s licence number that took more than an hour out of my day.”

Ms Lawless intends to follow up with Optus once the ordeal was over.

“I just want to know it’s not going to happen again,” she said.

“If they don’t consider my information valuable then they obviously don’t consider me as a valuable customer.”

The Advertiser has been unable to confirm whether the scammers are linked to the people responsible for the Optus hacking scandal.

Originally published as Scammers demand $2000 in text messages to ‘stop’ release of Optus information obtained by hackers