A young woman whose phone was stolen while on holiday in Zakynthos is warning against using simple passwords after a thief gained access to her photos and online banking details.
Gen Zer, Lydia Coates, took to TikTok to share how her phone was stolen while she was on vacation with her friends, captioning it clamp: ‘How one simple mistake in Zakynthos cost me over £10,000.’
Lydia warned in her video: ‘If you’re planning on going on a girls’ or boys’ holiday this summer, don’t make the same mistake I did!’
In 2022, the TikToker had planned a budget vacation with a friend to Zakynthos in Greece. On the second day of the trip, the two wanted to take a boat trip together.
Lydia packed a small bag for her phone, ID and money, explaining that she carried the bag tightly with her while on the boat.
During the booze-fuelled boat ride, Lydia claimed she ‘always had her bag with her’.
“The only time I didn’t have my bag was when I was at sea. My girlfriend was still on the boat, so she had it.”
‘When I came back from the sea, I grabbed my bag, which was still there, but my phone was gone.’
Since the boat trip was ‘quite small’ with about 50 people on board, Lydia and her friend asked the DJ to ask the audience if anyone had found the missing phone.
The tour organizers then promised to check each person before they disembarked to see who had put the device in their pocket.
“I kind of made my peace with it because if someone stole it, they would find it anyway,” she recalls.
However, she soon realized that she was wrong if she assumed the organizers would take action.
Lydia Coates, pictured, had more than £12,000 stolen after someone hacked into her phone using her password which was the same as her date of birth
‘Of course they didn’t frisk everyone, so my phone was gone!’
However, the missing phone was just the beginning of what would become a very expensive holiday nightmare.
“My biggest mistake that vacation was putting my driver’s license in the back of my phone,” she explains.
‘My date of birth was on my driver’s license, on the back of my phone. It was my password and also the password for my online banking.’
Lydia realised she had made a fatal mistake and ‘panicked’ checked her bank account to see if any money had been withdrawn. To her relief she saw that nothing had been taken while the phone had been stolen.
Lydia was reassured that her money was safe and said she “just forgot” about the incident and continued to use her friend’s mobile phone throughout the trip.
However, her happiness did not last long.
“And lo and behold, when I got home I checked my mobile banking and saw that a one-off transfer of £12,242 had been made to someone called Jessica,” she said.
The stolen money came from Lydia’s help-to-buy ISA, meaning she lost years of savings.
Lydia became upset and contacted the police, who told her to contact Zante police, where the theft had taken place.
Pictured: Lydia was fortunately able to get her money back, but the person who took the money escaped unscathed.
“When I contacted Zante police they were completely unable to help me,” she explained
‘Because this person had access to my phone, my entire gallery and all the photos that were ever on my phone, my online banking and my ID, I had to open an identity fraud protection program.
“So now I’m paying for identity theft protection for the rest of my life because this person can take out as many loans and mortgages with my information.”
“The moral of the story is: never put your ID in the back of your phone case when you go on vacation or ever!”
In a later video, Lydia explained that she resolved the issue by changing all of her banking information and deregistering her old account as “fraudulent.”
After a number of conversations with banks and the police, Lydia was fortunately able to recover the £12,242 that had been stolen from her.
“We assumed we could fine the person who stole the money on Facebook, but he had given a false name.
‘It wasn’t the first time this person robbed a bank or someone’s data.
This specific name was a name used as a fake name on multiple fraud websites, preventing the real perpetrators from being identified.
An app identified the phone as being at a location in Birmingham, but she was urged not to trace it.
“In my case, they got away with it. They got the money because I got the money back from fraud protection and not from the person themselves.”
Thanks to her fraud protection system, she got her money back.
Lydia’s unfortunate experience is not the first and probably won’t be the last. It comes amid a rise in phone thefts in the UK.
The capital has been hit particularly hard, with some calling it the ‘London epidemic’ as cases of the virus rise in the city.
City of London Police say they are conducting a targeted operation to thwart phone thefts in the Square Mile.
The operation was launched due to the worrying increase in phone thefts that police saw in 2022, and which continued last year and this year.
The police even spray DNA spray on criminals and their mopeds. If they run away with them, they can be linked to crimes.
Police advised people to remain vigilant in busy areas and on public transport, and asked people who have had their mobile phone stolen to contact police immediately.