Bali holiday horror as family falls victim to $150,000 myGov scam after their identity’s are stolen

An Australian mother said she and her husband were robbed while on a family holiday before being attacked in a $150,000 scam.

Melbourne social media influencer Anna De Rieu and her partner were on the journey of a lifetime with family when they were robbed of their belongings.

The pair’s data was then used by thieves to hack into their myGov account and withdraw $150,000 in government aid payments under their names.

The couple’s contact information and home address had been changed and more than $150,000 in government assistance had been claimed in their name (pictured)

Ms De Rieu said she had no idea that so much money had been withdrawn until she went to log into her account herself.

She and her husband were unable to access it, prompting them to call Centrelink to try and resolve the issue.

They were then told that their details and home addresses had been changed multiple times with money in their names.

Ms De Rieu said it took about six months to fix the problem and she now fears she could fall victim to more hacks in the future.

Several families have fallen victim to scammers who scammed their myGov accounts by accessing and altering their personal and tax information.

Through myGov, users can access services such as Centrelink, the Australian tax office and Medicare.

Mrs De Rieu told 7News the scammers had demanded flood and pandemic relief payments from job seekers.

“Every time they filed a claim, they changed (our) address,” she said.

Melbourne woman Leah Wilson also received a huge bill because cybercriminals filed fraudulent tax returns in her name.

“I noticed (via myGov) that there were three separate organizations reporting that I worked for them,” she said.

“I ended up with a $27,000 tax bill… and it was very hard to prove it wasn’t me.

“I had a mini heart attack, I’m not going to lie.”

Services Australia is warning anyone who has received a message claiming their account has been altered in any way should consider this a scam (stock image)

Ms Wilson was one of millions of Australians whose data was stolen in the Optus data breach last year and says she has since received several scam emails and phone calls.

It’s because Australians have been told to remain vigilant for scam emails or text messages claiming to be sent by myGov following an increase in fraudulent messages.

Scammers pose as government officials and tell recipients to click on untrustworthy links so they can claim a refund or discount.

Services Australia says anyone who has received a message claiming their account has been altered in some way should consider it a scam.

“You may have recently received a text message notifying you that you have made a change to your myGov account,” Services Australia said in a statement.

The scam text asks you to click on a link if the myGov activity was not created by you.

The text message may ask you to click a link or open a web form.

If you do, you may be redirected to a bogus myGov site designed to steal your personal information and banking information.

It can tell you that your information is being transferred securely. This is a trick to gain your trust and get you to click the link.’

An example of a scam message “informs” the recipient that their security information has been “successfully changed” and provides a suspicious link that can be clicked if they have not made this change

Another text message claimed that the recipient was eligible for a refund and told them to click a hyperlink to confirm their bank details

Services Australia advises users to only log into their myGov account by searching my.gov.au in a web browser and never click on any links attached to an email or SMS.

An example of a scam text is: “Your profile security information has been changed successfully if you did not make this change Go to https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12039639/Bali-holiday-horror-family-falls-victim-150-000-myGov-scam-identitys-stolen.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490.’

Another tells the user that their “profile has been put on hold pending review,” then adds a link at the end to “resolve it.”

ScamWatch has shared several tips and tricks to help everyday Australians spot a scam text or email.

They say that bad grammar or punctuation are among the top red flags found in scam messages and that hyperlinks will never be included in emails or text messages sent by myGov.

Emails sent by the government agency also do not include the logo and simply inform the recipient that they have received a new message in their inbox.

Anyone who believes they may have already fallen victim to a myGov scam should immediately call the Services Australia Scams and Identity Theft Helpdesk.