Couple’s wedding day ruined by $8500 phone number scam
A couple have been left devastated after they fell victim to a very simple scam that has affected their wedding plans and you could be next.
An Adelaide couple have been left devastated after a fraudster scammed $8500 from their wedding account.
Jamie Heslop’s personal details were compromised when a phone scammer gained access to his bank account in April.
He fell victim to phone number swapping scam, known as fraudulent phone porting, where a con-artist targets an unsuspecting individual and moves their phone number from one SIM to another.
Usually a text message is sent by network providers alerting owners their number is being swapped to another SIM, but according to Yahoo News, Mr Heslop said he didn’t receive a warning and instead had his personal details accessed and passwords amended.
In a matter of minutes the fraudster then stole money which was supposed to pay for his wedding day.
Mr Heslop had no idea it was a fraudulent issue and put it down to a billing problem when he tried to contact his fiance Dea Krvavac and failed to get through.
It was only when he was denied access to his Gmail account when he realised something suspicious had happened.
“I then checked my Netbank account. I was able to get in so the password hadn’t been changed but a fair sum of money had been taken from our joint wedding account,” he told Yahoo News.
The unknown scammer pocketed $8500 from the couple’s wedding bank account.
But the couple were still unaware the inactive phone number was how their money had been taken.
It was after they returned from watching a movie at the cinema’s when Mr Heslop delved deeper to find others had experienced their phone number being ported out to a different SIM.
“They (Mr Heslop’s phone provider) didn’t really give me a good idea of how someone had done it but we figured out that all you need to deal with customer support and pretend to be someone was the phone number, date of birth and their full name,’ Mr Heslop told the publication.
It’s not the only scam making the round — in April, the ATO issued an urgent warning about the overseas scam calls, which manipulate caller identification to appear as if they are coming from a real ATO phone number.
Since the start of the year, more than 300 Australians have been scammed out of $1 million of scam phone calls impersonating the tax man.
The ATO has received 40,225 reports of impersonation scams since January, compared with about 30,000 reports at tax time last year. The calls have fooled 321 people, who have collectively paid about $1 million to scammers.
HOW PHONE PORTING SCAMS WORK
According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), fraudsters needs as little as a name, date of birth and mobile number to proceed with a phone porting scam.
When they steal your personal information, they then transfer your mobile phone number to them without your consent.
The stolen mobile number can then be used to receive SMS verification codes, allowing the criminal to gain access to services such as your bank, email and social media accounts and other services.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I’VE FALLEN VICTIM
It’s when you randomly lose phone coverage or reception. Signs may include when you are unable to make or receive calls or messages when you usually can your mobile phone is showing ‘SOS only’ where reception bars usually appear.
ACMA advises if you’re unsure, contact your phone company to check your account or whether any network-related incidents may have caused the loss of service.
News.com.au has contacted Ms Krvavac and Mr Heslop for comment
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