Optus customers frustrated after compensation requests denied, phone number change not possible

Optus customers are furious after receiving this message from the telco after the personal data of Aussies was stolen in a huge cyber attack.

Optus customers are outraged after finding little support from the telco giant in the days following a massive hack of their personal information.

In one case, Optus refused to compensate a customer for running a $15 credit check and in another, a young mum has discovered that she is unable to change her mobile phone number to better protect herself without copping a fee of about $1000 to switch providers.

On Thursday, Optus revealed that about 9.8 million Australians had potentially fallen victim to a massive cyber attack that resulted in their names, emails, phone numbers, date of births, addresses and in some cases even drivers’ licence and passport numbers being stolen.

And on Saturday, a hacker claiming to be behind the breach issued a $1.5 million ransom demand to Optus, threatening to leak everyone’s data if this wasn’t followed through within the next week.

The company’s CEO made an emotional apology on national TV but two customers that news.com.au spoke to say they have been “disappointed”.

James*, who preferred to stay anonymous, learned he had been impacted by the data breach and raced to protect his identity and his money.

But the Sydneysider, 35, said the response he received from Optus was “despicable”.

James has set up a credit monitor after his details were stolen.

Optus refused to fund him $15 to monitor his credit.

Someone has claimed credit for the breach and is demanding US$1 million (A$1.5 million) from Optus.

James told news.com.au he has been “forced to set up” an identify theft monitoring account via credit checking agency Equifax, which costs $15 per month.

But when he requested that Optus cover the cost, a worker told him he wasn’t entitled to any compensation.

In a live web chat, the telco staffer wrote: “I can hear that you are concerned about the safety of your account, and I am sorry that you had to contact us today.

“Unfortunately we’re not able to offer compensation for the inconvenience. I can assure you that Optus have taken immediate steps to secure your account and protect every customers’ privacy, if you are impacted, Optus will contact you soon.”

James was not happy.

“It’s a pretty despicable act as a company to allow for a breach to occur and then refuse to assist customers protect themselves when they exposed those customers to the risk,” he told news.com.au.

At first, Olivia was told she was not involved in the breach.

RELATED: What to do if you are affected by the Optus cyber attack

Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer-Rosmarin apologised for the cyber intrusion in a conference call with reporters on Friday, saying “it should not have happened”.

“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t prevent it,” she said.

“It undermines all the great work we’ve been doing to be a pioneer in this industry, be a challenger, and create new and wonderful experiences for our customers. I’m really sorry.”

Ms Bayer-Rosmarin urged customers to be on the watch for suspicious contacts in the near future, fearing bad actors who access the stolen data could use it to place scam calls.

“What customers can do is just be vigilant,” she said.

“It really is about increased vigilance, and being alert to any activity that seems suspicious or odd, or out of the ordinary.

“If somebody calls you and says they want to connect to your computer, and says to give them your password or let them in, don‘t allow that to occur.”

She said passwords and financial details had not been compromised, however other sensitive information had been pilfered.

“We do hold a reference to the identification information, whether it’s the driver’s licence number or passport number. That’s the field that’s been compromised,” she said.

“I again want to reassure people that they have not got images of any of those documents, nor any bank details or passwords.”

Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin appeared to become emotional towards the end of the press conference on Friday.

Olivia*, who also preferred to stay anonymous, from Launceston has been left in limbo after Optus was unable to change her phone number.

The mum-of-one, 38, first found out about the data breach late on Thursday after reading a news.com.au article.

Concerned, the Tasmanian resident contacted the Optus help centre who assured her she had not been involved in the breach.

But a day later, like millions of other Australians, she received a concerning email in her inbox showing she had indeed had her credentials stolen.

Olivia rushed to stop her identity from being stolen, spending “hours after hours” changing her details including passwords to her banking institutions and her email address, and registering with IDCare that she has been a victim of identity theft.

“As soon as I could I changed my licence number,” she told news.com.au. “Through pure luck someone was still at work (because it was) obviously on a Friday afternoon.”

However, the one thing she hasn’t been able to change is her mobile number, and Optus has been no help, according to the mother.

Olivia’s heart sank when she received this email in her inbox.

At least 9.8 million Australians have been caught up in the breach.

Olivia explained how she desperately wanted to change her mobile number to stop her phone from being ported or called by scammers.

“I’ve had to change everything, because I have no faith,” she explained. “Optus says my phone can’t be ported because of two factor authorisation, but how can I trust what they say?”

She saw through news channels that customers could change their mobile numbers at an Optus store, but when she visited her nearest Optus branch with 100 points of ID, staff were unable to help and redirected her to the online web feature.

When she went onto the live chat, they redirected her back to a store.

Essentially, she’s been caught in a catch 22 situation with no idea how she can change her mobile phone number.

The predicament has left her wanting to switch telco providers to Telstra, but this would mean having to fork out $1000 to Optus in cancellation fees and to pay off a phone.

“It will be about $1000, I don’t know why I’m paying money for their mistakes,” she said.

“But $1000 is obviously a lot less than the hundreds of thousands of dollars they (cyber criminals) could take out in my name.”

Olivia has lodged a complaint with the telecommunications ombudsman.

The hack could have affected millions of customers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

News.com.au has contacted Optus for comment but at time of publication had received no response.

Optus has made international headlines for the hack and #Optusfail was trending on Twitter within hours of the breach being revealed.

The telco giant claims 9.8 million accounts may have been compromised while the hacker says they have the personal information of 11.2 million people — which is nearly half the Australian population.

Optus customers who may have had their data stolen are urged to:

• Be careful of possible scam calls;

• Consider strengthening password and other online security measures; and

• Be on the lookout for more information from Optus in the coming days.

* Names withheld over privacy concerns

If you have been impacted by the Optus data breach, email [e-mail].