[Sethia Soliman]

Mum issues URGENT warning about new, sophisticated Optus scam - ‘They knew my details.’​

No one ever expects to fall for a scam until they find themselves at the receiving end of the heinous crime. So it’s always best to be wary of calls, texts, and emails you receive along with the personal details that you share with others.

A mum-of-four, Eliza Nixon, claimed that someone pretending to be an Optus employee contacted her to offer a 70 per cent discount on her phone bill over the next three months for being a ‘loyal customer’. But what happened after left her horrified.

Sharing the details of her case in a TikTok video, the mum admitted that she was ‘fairly distracted’ with her twin babies during the call so she didn’t pay enough attention to its validity.

Initially, Eliza said that the incident didn’t set any alarm bells ringing as she had just spoken to her phone provider a few days before about upgrading her plan.

Do NOT share your personal details with anyone. Source: iStock​

‘I had also just been in contact with Optus a week prior to upgrade my plan and obtain pricing info, so it seemed like the call could have been related to this.’ she explained.

But as soon as she hung up the phone, she had a terrible hunch that something wasn’t right.

‘As soon as the conversation ended, I felt suspicious and attempted to log into my Optus account but the password was not working.’

Even though she never disclosed her personal details, the fraudster already knew Eliza’s full name, home address, date of birth, and email address.

'During the phone conversation. I was sceptical,’ she said.

‘But I was waiting for them to ask me for my details or banking information, which would easily give away that it may be a scam.’

'But the thing is – they didn’t ask me to provide any of my details. Instead, they confirmed a lot of details with me, such as: “Confirming this is your first and last name, address, phone number and date of birth”.’

'The scammers already had all of my details and the only information I gave them was the ‘one-time password’ which they claimed to send to me. They asked me to repeat it to them.'

‘They said: “We’ve got everything to set up this discount for you... In the meantime, we’re going to send you your one-time password. You just need to repeat the password back to us so we can confirm that you are who you say you are”.’

‘So I did that, I gave them the password and they said: “Yep, that’s all good! You’ll get an email confirmation and the discount will start in the next month”.’

Eliza warned others about the Optus scam on TikTok. Source: @thetwixons​

Little did she know, the cybercriminal was attempting to use the authentication code to change her passwords and personal details in her phone account.

‘The scammers were attempting to hack into my account and, by default, set off the verification code. They were clever enough to warn me that it was coming and obtained access to my account from me.’ Eliza said.

When she reached out to Optus, her worst fears came true. She was told that no one from the company had contacted her.

‘They helped me change my email and password details straight away.’

Luckily, Eliza was able to prevent the scammers from accessing her account again.

‘From my understanding, the scammers may have been trying to order iPhones and tablets under my account details to have them sent to a different address. The bill will then be charged to my name, leaving me with thousands of dollars out of my pocket.’ she detailed.

Eliza said that she couldn’t believe how she fell for the scam without even realising it as she always goes out of her way to be extra cautious.

‘I wanted to highlight this particular scam and how even the most sceptical person can be caught off guard at the wrong place and time.’

After the terrifying encounter, Eliza immediately changed all of the passwords that were linked to the email address that the fraudster got a hold of.

The fraudster knew Eliza’s personal details. Source: Unsplash​

Eliza’s TikTok video amassed over 355k views, with thousands of users flocking to the comments to share their thoughts.

‘Confirming is a bad sign. The company/organisation needs to authenticate you before giving out any information, otherwise, it is a breach of privacy.’ one user advised.

‘Always say that you will call them back and then verify online if it’s actually the company’s number. Never just hand over details to someone who called you.’ another chimed.

‘Sadly in today's world, we need to treat every call as a scam to safeguard ourselves.’ a third pointed out, while a fourth added: ‘It’s so scary how they had all that information!’

An Optus spokesperson touched on Eliza’s case, saying: ‘Optus takes customer security and data very seriously.’

‘Optus has strict customer identification processes in place to ensure that customers identify themselves when they engage with our retail or service team about their accounts. Customers requesting any changes to services must be able to identify themselves before any actions are taken on behalf of the customer.’

Source: @thetwixons​

In stores, this identification can be done using a government-approved ID such as a driver’s licence. But for services provided online or over the phone, customers are required to validate their identity by providing personal details.

‘For high-risk transactions, Optus implements multifactor identification checks.’ the Optus spokesperson continued.

‘These identification requests may escalate to further verification checks, including the requirement to complete an in-store identity check or escalate the request with further verification checks.’

‘We encourage customers to be vigilant about the security of their personal information by regularly changing their passwords, not re-using passwords and being wary of sharing their personal details.’

If you ever come across a scam, we highly recommend you report it to Scamwatch as soon as possible. You may also learn where you can get help by clicking here.

What are your thoughts on Eliza’s experience? What are some of the things that you do to protect yourself from scammers? Share your tips with us in the comments!

 

[Ricci]

It would appear that these last two mentioned scams are not random efforts. The scammers have far too much information about the targets. Are they listening in on out conversations? Have they hacked big business? Whatever it is and how they got so much personal information is scary, it would appear nothing is sacred any more and there's no such thing as personal and private.

 

[Gaena]

It would appear that these last two mentioned scams are not random efforts. The scammers have far too much information about the targets. Are they listening in on out conversations? Have they hacked big business? Whatever it is and how they got so much personal information is scary, it would appear nothing is sacred any more and there's no such thing as personal and private.

This is a prime example of why I do not use my phone for anything other than making phone calls, I have always been wary of using anything other than a PC or Laptop to do any banking activities, or bill paying etc
I may be uninformed and not really that Tech savvy but I believe that the virus protection that I have on my PC gives me far greater protection than my phone can offer.

 

[lozat54]

It would appear that these last two mentioned scams are not random efforts. The scammers have far too much information about the targets. Are they listening in on out conversations? Have they hacked big business? Whatever it is and how they got so much personal information is scary, it would appear nothing is sacred any more and there's no such thing as personal and private.

Never , ever do companies , government departments or such contact you like this!! You always have to contact them!! So many timed this has been said to warn of these types of scams! Always ask for the person’s name, then ring the company yourself using the phone number on their website, NOT any numbers the caller may have given you & verify that they are an employee & that the call is legit, which is unlikely!!

 

[Suzanne rose]

For them to already know her details it makes me think it's an inside job. Someone at optus either doing it or selling the information to others.

This is something companies like optus should think about before employing staff in countries like India and handing all our details over too.

So many companies are using off shore staff, how safe is it really !!!

 

[68autobug]

No one ever expects to fall for a scam until they find themselves at the receiving end of the heinous crime. So it’s always best to be wary of calls, texts, and emails you receive along with the personal details that you share with others.

A mum-of-four, Eliza Nixon, claimed that someone pretending to be an Optus employee contacted her to offer a 70 per cent discount on her phone bill over the next three months for being a ‘loyal customer’. But what happened after left her horrified.

Sharing the details of her case in a TikTok video, the mum admitted that she was ‘fairly distracted’ with her twin babies during the call so she didn’t pay enough attention to its validity.

Initially, Eliza said that the incident didn’t set any alarm bells ringing as she had just spoken to her phone provider a few days before about upgrading her plan.

Do NOT share your personal details with anyone. Source: iStock​

‘I had also just been in contact with Optus a week prior to upgrade my plan and obtain pricing info, so it seemed like the call could have been related to this.’ she explained.

But as soon as she hung up the phone, she had a terrible hunch that something wasn’t right.

‘As soon as the conversation ended, I felt suspicious and attempted to log into my Optus account but the password was not working.’

Even though she never disclosed her personal details, the fraudster already knew Eliza’s full name, home address, date of birth, and email address.

'During the phone conversation. I was sceptical,’ she said.

‘But I was waiting for them to ask me for my details or banking information, which would easily give away that it may be a scam.’

'But the thing is – they didn’t ask me to provide any of my details. Instead, they confirmed a lot of details with me, such as: “Confirming this is your first and last name, address, phone number and date of birth”.’

'The scammers already had all of my details and the only information I gave them was the ‘one-time password’ which they claimed to send to me. They asked me to repeat it to them.'

‘They said: “We’ve got everything to set up this discount for you... In the meantime, we’re going to send you your one-time password. You just need to repeat the password back to us so we can confirm that you are who you say you are”.’

‘So I did that, I gave them the password and they said: “Yep, that’s all good! You’ll get an email confirmation and the discount will start in the next month”.’

Eliza warned others about the Optus scam on TikTok. Source: @thetwixons​

Little did she know, the cybercriminal was attempting to use the authentication code to change her passwords and personal details in her phone account.

‘The scammers were attempting to hack into my account and, by default, set off the verification code. They were clever enough to warn me that it was coming and obtained access to my account from me.’ Eliza said.

When she reached out to Optus, her worst fears came true. She was told that no one from the company had contacted her.

‘They helped me change my email and password details straight away.’

Luckily, Eliza was able to prevent the scammers from accessing her account again.

‘From my understanding, the scammers may have been trying to order iPhones and tablets under my account details to have them sent to a different address. The bill will then be charged to my name, leaving me with thousands of dollars out of my pocket.’ she detailed.

Eliza said that she couldn’t believe how she fell for the scam without even realising it as she always goes out of her way to be extra cautious.

‘I wanted to highlight this particular scam and how even the most sceptical person can be caught off guard at the wrong place and time.’

After the terrifying encounter, Eliza immediately changed all of the passwords that were linked to the email address that the fraudster got a hold of.

The fraudster knew Eliza’s personal details. Source: Unsplash​

Eliza’s TikTok video amassed over 355k views, with thousands of users flocking to the comments to share their thoughts.

‘Confirming is a bad sign. The company/organisation needs to authenticate you before giving out any information, otherwise, it is a breach of privacy.’ one user advised.

‘Always say that you will call them back and then verify online if it’s actually the company’s number. Never just hand over details to someone who called you.’ another chimed.

‘Sadly in today's world, we need to treat every call as a scam to safeguard ourselves.’ a third pointed out, while a fourth added: ‘It’s so scary how they had all that information!’

An Optus spokesperson touched on Eliza’s case, saying: ‘Optus takes customer security and data very seriously.’

‘Optus has strict customer identification processes in place to ensure that customers identify themselves when they engage with our retail or service team about their accounts. Customers requesting any changes to services must be able to identify themselves before any actions are taken on behalf of the customer.’

Source: @thetwixons​

In stores, this identification can be done using a government-approved ID such as a driver’s licence. But for services provided online or over the phone, customers are required to validate their identity by providing personal details.

‘For high-risk transactions, Optus implements multifactor identification checks.’ the Optus spokesperson continued.

‘These identification requests may escalate to further verification checks, including the requirement to complete an in-store identity check or escalate the request with further verification checks.’

‘We encourage customers to be vigilant about the security of their personal information by regularly changing their passwords, not re-using passwords and being wary of sharing their personal details.’

If you ever come across a scam, we highly recommend you report it to Scamwatch as soon as possible. You may also learn where you can get help by clicking here.

What are your thoughts on Eliza’s experience? What are some of the things that you do to protect yourself from scammers? Share your tips with us in the comments!

 

[68autobug]

My Wife received a call similar to that one and knew all her details... which She thought Must be genuine.. luckily I over heard Her talking... and suggested to hang up... which she did.... and they kept ringing for a while....My Wife thought She was talking to the fraud squad, with something to do with a Bank fraud... She turned the speaker to the phone on...[and yes they knew all her details....too] when She asked who She was talking to, [for Me to hear, He said "federal police' which made Me think... I would always say "The Federal Police"or The commonwealth bank" etc... PLUS I didn't know that the Federal police were using people with Indian accents.... lol.. so She Hung up.... again.. I have been receiving SMS saying people have tried to access My PayPal or Afterpay account at 3am in the morning.... local time... So they are trying every day to scam Australians... The Scammers believe that people living in Australia - Canada & the USA all have too much money and the scammers are helping spread the money about.... I saw that in a recent documentry.. 68autobug Lee

 

[68autobug]

For them to already know her details it makes me think it's an inside job. Someone at optus either doing it or selling the information to others.

This is something companies like optus should think about before employing staff in countries like India and handing all our details over too.

So many companies are using off shore staff, how safe is it really !!!

 

[68autobug]

The scammers from India have all the best and latest technology to find out who We are etc, plus they can even show any phone number they like on Your phone.... it will get worse before it gets better.... I always thought that Your birth date etc was something that they couldn't find out... but yes, They can tell you Your birthdate etc... Just about everything... and every one should make sure their Passwords would NOT be found in a dictionary... as a computer can go thru all the words in a dictionary.... and upper & lower case no longer save You either.. You do need # - * & ^ ?/ & numbers in Your pass words... Lee 68autobug

 

[riskydave]

No one ever expects to fall for a scam until they find themselves at the receiving end of the heinous crime. So it’s always best to be wary of calls, texts, and emails you receive along with the personal details that you share with others.

A mum-of-four, Eliza Nixon, claimed that someone pretending to be an Optus employee contacted her to offer a 70 per cent discount on her phone bill over the next three months for being a ‘loyal customer’. But what happened after left her horrified.

Sharing the details of her case in a TikTok video, the mum admitted that she was ‘fairly distracted’ with her twin babies during the call so she didn’t pay enough attention to its validity.

Initially, Eliza said that the incident didn’t set any alarm bells ringing as she had just spoken to her phone provider a few days before about upgrading her plan.

Do NOT share your personal details with anyone. Source: iStock​

‘I had also just been in contact with Optus a week prior to upgrade my plan and obtain pricing info, so it seemed like the call could have been related to this.’ she explained.

But as soon as she hung up the phone, she had a terrible hunch that something wasn’t right.

‘As soon as the conversation ended, I felt suspicious and attempted to log into my Optus account but the password was not working.’

Even though she never disclosed her personal details, the fraudster already knew Eliza’s full name, home address, date of birth, and email address.

'During the phone conversation. I was sceptical,’ she said.

‘But I was waiting for them to ask me for my details or banking information, which would easily give away that it may be a scam.’

'But the thing is – they didn’t ask me to provide any of my details. Instead, they confirmed a lot of details with me, such as: “Confirming this is your first and last name, address, phone number and date of birth”.’

'The scammers already had all of my details and the only information I gave them was the ‘one-time password’ which they claimed to send to me. They asked me to repeat it to them.'

‘They said: “We’ve got everything to set up this discount for you... In the meantime, we’re going to send you your one-time password. You just need to repeat the password back to us so we can confirm that you are who you say you are”.’

‘So I did that, I gave them the password and they said: “Yep, that’s all good! You’ll get an email confirmation and the discount will start in the next month”.’

Eliza warned others about the Optus scam on TikTok. Source: @thetwixons​

Little did she know, the cybercriminal was attempting to use the authentication code to change her passwords and personal details in her phone account.

‘The scammers were attempting to hack into my account and, by default, set off the verification code. They were clever enough to warn me that it was coming and obtained access to my account from me.’ Eliza said.

When she reached out to Optus, her worst fears came true. She was told that no one from the company had contacted her.

‘They helped me change my email and password details straight away.’

Luckily, Eliza was able to prevent the scammers from accessing her account again.

‘From my understanding, the scammers may have been trying to order iPhones and tablets under my account details to have them sent to a different address. The bill will then be charged to my name, leaving me with thousands of dollars out of my pocket.’ she detailed.

Eliza said that she couldn’t believe how she fell for the scam without even realising it as she always goes out of her way to be extra cautious.

‘I wanted to highlight this particular scam and how even the most sceptical person can be caught off guard at the wrong place and time.’

After the terrifying encounter, Eliza immediately changed all of the passwords that were linked to the email address that the fraudster got a hold of.

The fraudster knew Eliza’s personal details. Source: Unsplash​

Eliza’s TikTok video amassed over 355k views, with thousands of users flocking to the comments to share their thoughts.

‘Confirming is a bad sign. The company/organisation needs to authenticate you before giving out any information, otherwise, it is a breach of privacy.’ one user advised.

‘Always say that you will call them back and then verify online if it’s actually the company’s number. Never just hand over details to someone who called you.’ another chimed.

‘Sadly in today's world, we need to treat every call as a scam to safeguard ourselves.’ a third pointed out, while a fourth added: ‘It’s so scary how they had all that information!’

An Optus spokesperson touched on Eliza’s case, saying: ‘Optus takes customer security and data very seriously.’

‘Optus has strict customer identification processes in place to ensure that customers identify themselves when they engage with our retail or service team about their accounts. Customers requesting any changes to services must be able to identify themselves before any actions are taken on behalf of the customer.’

Source: @thetwixons​

In stores, this identification can be done using a government-approved ID such as a driver’s licence. But for services provided online or over the phone, customers are required to validate their identity by providing personal details.

‘For high-risk transactions, Optus implements multifactor identification checks.’ the Optus spokesperson continued.

‘These identification requests may escalate to further verification checks, including the requirement to complete an in-store identity check or escalate the request with further verification checks.’

‘We encourage customers to be vigilant about the security of their personal information by regularly changing their passwords, not re-using passwords and being wary of sharing their personal details.’

If you ever come across a scam, we highly recommend you report it to Scamwatch as soon as possible. You may also learn where you can get help by clicking here.

What are your thoughts on Eliza’s experience? What are some of the things that you do to protect yourself from scammers? Share your tips with us in the comments!

I received an email from Flybuys the other day containing a photo of a persons licence and Medicare Care and something else I think so it just goes to show how secure our personal information is in this day and age of "We love it Technology" that has been shoved down our throat. I think they sent it to the wrong address, do you think I can contact them to send it to them....nope!