Man has $10,000 stolen in SIM card sneaky scam

Just 24 hours after getting a seemingly innocent text message, this Aussie was down $10,000 - and it really could happen to anyone.

An Aussie business owner who had $10,000 stolen from his bank account as part of an elaborate SIM card scam has slammed the telcos for failing to stop the scammers.

Andrew Ryder, 61, is an Optus customer and had his bank accounts drained after his phone number was illegally transferred to another device last month.

The popular fraud scam is known as SIM-swapping, where a scammer takes control of a customer’s phone by using their personal information to request a new SIM card.

Mr Ryder, from Townsville, Queensland, said he first realised something was awry when he received a text from Telstra about his online profile being changed – despite not being a customer with them.

The bank has since refunded the money. Picture: Facebook

He then received a text from Optus telling him his number had been sent to a new e-sim.

“It was then things started to add up in my head and I’m thinking gee whiz … this is someone seriously trying to get my identity,” he told news.com.au.

Mr Ryder said he then went in person to an Optus branch where they told them someone had managed to impersonate him to make the SIM switch.

Within 24 hours, the scammer had taken $10,000 from his bank accounts, taken several Ubers through his bank details and also opened up a Zip Pay in his name.

Luckily Mr Ryder has since been told his bank – Defence Bank – will be refunding the money.

“Fortunately I’m close to retirement so that was part of a nest egg account. So I can do without it for a period of time,” he said about the money.

“But if it was your average Joe working from pay to pay, that would be impossible to deal with losing $10,000 and not being able to pay your mortgage or feed the kids.”

Mr Ryder – who owns a boat licensing business – said he is still struggling to get back his various accounts as Optus won’t tell him what personal information the scammer used to impersonate him.

Mr Ryder said he hoped his experience would make people aware of the scam. Picture: Facebook

“I’ve had to replace Medicare cards, driver’s licences, all bank accounts, member numbers and lock certain accounts down,” he said.

Mr Ryder said he is also frustrated that his number could be transferred so easily by someone else.

“The two telcos have been absolutely unhelpful, in fact, obstructionist in me trying to find out what’s going on,” he said.

“They’re not interested in helping me at all.”

In a statement to news.com.au on Tuesday evening, Optus said its “customer care experts acted quickly” once they became aware of the issue.

“We supported the customer through the process of engaging relevant authorities, including the police,” Optus said.

“There are protections to prevent unauthorised SIM-swaps and mobile phone porting, but SIM-swap fraud can occur when criminals use stolen personal information, including passwords, to request a new SIM.

“Optus, along with the wider telco industry, continues to enhance existing protocols and controls to prevent unauthorised access to customers’ accounts and services.

“We encourage customers to be vigilant about the security of their personal information, regularly change their passwords, not re-use passwords between multiple accounts, and be wary of sharing their personal details and identity documents.”

The company said it had “engaged directly with the customer” and advised them of further protections it could implement “to protect their account”.

“These include changing the customer’s phone number and account number or being added to a ‘hotlist’ so no orders can be placed unless the customer attends an Optus store with 100 points of ID.”

Telstra has also been contacted for comment.