How to avoid being scammed: TikTok star Millie Ford had $1,000 stolen by internet hackers

By William On Feb 28, 2023

Australians are warned to urgently update passwords and stop saving bank card details in accounts when shopping online.

One of the country’s top TikTok stars, Sydney’s Millie Ford, lost $1,000 to hackers who found her personal information and began making unauthorized purchases on her behalf.

The 26-year-old told FEMAIL that she started receiving “hundreds of spam emails” in her main inbox which led her to find out what was really going on.

“I took a closer look and realized that the stacks of emails were covering up actual confirmation emails for purchases from a website that I hadn’t made,” he said.

My card details were saved to my account for an online store and had been used by hackers to purchase items.

‘It turns out that this scam process happened four times before I realized what had happened. Overall, I lost about $1000.’

Sydney TikTok star Millie Ford (pictured) lost around $1,000 to hackers who found her personal information and started making unauthorized purchases on her behalf.

“I took a closer look and realized that the emails were covering actual confirmation emails for purchases from a website that I didn’t do,” he said.

At first, Millie posted about the situation on social media asking for advice because she “didn’t know” that she had been hacked or what to do.

‘It was very frustrating and not knowing what kind of position I was in scared me. I also didn’t know how much had been taken from me or what to do next,” she said.

Fortunately, the online business from which the purchases were made reached out and Millie shared what had happened, but unfortunately she did not receive any of the money returned.

“However, I learned a lesson not to save my data on a website, even though I thought it was safe to do so,” said Millie.

“There’s no shame in being hacked, and the more people are aware of the risk, the safer everyone can be, especially young people who spend a lot of time online and may think it won’t happen to them!”

PayPal tips for identifying fraudulent emails:

Do you know them? Emails or texts from scammers often come from an unknown email or phone number

Bad grammar: Scam emails often contain misspellings and incorrect grammar. So it’s important to watch out for typos or anything out of the ordinary.

Have they used your name? Always be on the lookout for impostors. If an email begins with ‘Dear User’ or ‘Hello PayPal Customer’, you should be suspicious.

Unrecognized call: Think twice before sharing sensitive information like your credit card number, password, or even security questions like the name of your first dog.

Phishing for information: Regularly update your antivirus program to protect against malware.

Suspicious URL: If the website looks suspicious, don’t click anything and look for a URL that starts with ‘https’ and closes the lock symbol.

Sense of urgency: Scammers often turn up the heat with “urgent action required” or “limited time offer” messages. So keep calm and take stock while browsing online.

At this time, there is also a new PayID phishing scam that targets users selling items on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, and other websites.

NAB has seen an increasing number of scams involving false PayID communication in recent weeks, as thousands of Australians look to step up side hustles or get more involved with their finances to deal with the pressures of rising cost of living.

The scammers’ profiles appear to be a real person with little information in the profiles and will ask to pay for an item using PayID, a quick and easy way to pay for something without exchanging bank details.

Recently, a young woman was almost caught by a scammer who claimed that PayID was not working because they had a “business account.”

In this case, never exchange email addresses or bank details with someone who is creating a sense of urgency in the conversation.

At this time, there is also a new PayID phishing scam targeting users selling items on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, and other websites (pictured: Facebook Marketplace scammer’s message)

Recently, a young woman was almost caught by a scammer who claimed that PayID was not working because they had a “business account.”

The woman received an email from the Facebook Marketplace scammer who explained that she had a “limit” on her account (pictured: the email). However, PayID is always free and instant. Users should never exchange email addresses or bank details with someone who is creating a sense of urgency in the conversation.

Australians lost $260,000 to PayID-specific phishing scams last year, according to Scamwatch, while total scam reports to NAB rose 38 percent year-over-year.

NAB executive group fraud and executive Chris Sheehan said the PayID hoax was the latest phishing scam and the actual number of scams hitting the community was expected to be higher as many go unreported. .

“Nobody wants to try to sell their old sofa, fridge, phone or stroller and inadvertently end up costing them. Unfortunately, that’s what happens more and more when people try to sell items online,” Sheehan said.

“Cybercriminals are sophisticated and unfortunately we are now seeing them try to exploit PayID as it is generally not as familiar to the community as other ways to send and receive money.”