Andrew worked hard to save $10,000 before scammers stole it within hours… and it could easily happen to you
A small business owner who was saving $10,000 for a rainy day has the entire amount stolen in a cunning phone hack.
Townsville man Andrew Ryder had his bank account and digital identity destroyed within 24 hours after a scammer targeted his phone on March 19.
Mr Ryder, a retired veteran and owner of a boat and jet ski licensing company, fell victim to a phone porting and SIM card switching scam.
Phone porting is a legitimate practice of transferring someone’s phone number from one telecommunications company to another.
However, with enough information, a criminal can create an account with a telecom company in a person’s name and have their number ported.
Townsville man Andrew Ryder had $10,000 stolen from his bank account in a devious phone scam
Mr Ryder was the victim of a SIM switching and phone porting scam, which allowed the fraudster to transfer his mobile number to a new SIM card and impersonate him when calling his telecoms company and bank.
A SIM card swap scam occurs when the fraudster contacts the victim’s telecom provider and asks to activate a new SIM card with their number.
Mr Ryder realized something was wrong when he received a text message from Optus informing him that his request to move his phone number to a new SIM card was being processed.
He immediately called Optus, but was hesitant to give information over the phone as he was unsure whether he was speaking to the scammer or his provider.
Mr Ryder’s phone lost function – indicating his phone number had been transferred to another SIM card – and $10,000 was taken from his bank account almost immediately.
“I contacted my banks and asked them to close my account, they investigated and said $10,000 had been taken,” Mr Ryder said. ABC.
Mr Ryder discovered the scammer had called his bank pretending to be him, and used his phone number to access security codes sent via text message.
He added that the bank also asked what Mr Ryder did while serving in the military, but that did not deter the scammer.
‘That’s easy to find online. All you have to do is google my name and that information comes up, so that should have been a red flag to them but it wasn’t,” Mr Ryder said.
Mr Ryder explained that the criminal had opened a credit line in his name and had also denied him access to his email, Google and Facebook accounts.
His digital identity has been “completely destroyed” and he was unsure what other personal information the scammer might have before hacking into his phone.
“I’ve had to reassess my entire concept of what information I keep online. “I’m just trying to keep myself safe so I can lie down at night and not have to think I’m going to wake up with no money in my account,” Mr Ryder said.
Mr Ryder, a veteran and owner of a boat and jet ski licensing company, said he has had to reassess how much information he keeps online.
The bank, which Mr Ryder did not name because it wanted to protect his personal information, refunded him the $10,000 stolen by the scammer.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority introduced rules in mid-2020 requiring telcos to use multi-factor ID authentication and that As a result, the number of mobile porting cases fell by 95 percent.
Last year, Aussies reported 19,895 cases of identity theft scams, costing victims more than $8.59 million, according to the ACCC’s Scamwatch.
More than $826,000 was lost through phone scams, accounting for more than 12,200 reported cases.