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"This is going to worry me for the next five or ten years": Aussie doctor recalls TERRIFYING SIM-swap scam experience
Several months ago, Christine (not the victim's real name) was supposed to go on a two-week holiday with her family.
But then, she was stopped in her tracks when she suddenly received a notification from her bank, informing her of a recent transaction. Almost $200 was missing from her account, but she couldn't remember making the transfer.
Turns out, she had fallen victim to a scam called SIM swapping, where a scammer takes control of a person's mobile number by using that individual's personal details to request a new SIM card from their telco provider.
Christine realised that she had been "SIM swapped" when her phone stopped receiving calls or texts, and the signal indicated on her screen switched to 'SOS only' mode.
Apparently, a cybercriminal took hold of her personal information, impersonated her, and asked her telco company for an eSIM card.
Now, the hacker could get into all her logins, including her bank account, social media, emails and even food delivery accounts, by simply sending a password reset and intercepting the text message.
Christine's phone switched to 'SOS only' mode after the hackers seized her mobile number. Credit: news.com.au.
Christine, who works as a medical professional based in NSW, was unsure how the hackers got her personal details but she suspected an important letter was stolen out of her mail.
Some phone companies like Optus only require the customer’s full name, date of birth, phone number and address before authorising a SIM swap, which may have allowed the hackers to easily impersonate Christine.
As a result, Christine was unable to go on the family holiday. It took her two whole weeks to deal with the wreck the hackers had left behind.
The doctor said the whole hack experience made her feel "very vulnerable" and "unsafe".
"I am concerned now, this is going to worry me for the next five or 10 years. I’m afraid," she added. "I know that they’re real humans. These people who did this are not nice people."
New rules for telcos introduced by the ACMA will help protect consumers from SIM-swap scams. Credit: ACMA.
The new requirements, called the Telecommunications Service Provider (Customer Identity Authentication) Determination 2022, will come into effect at the end of June.
Under the new guidelines, the ACMA can punish telcos who breach the rules, including by taking them to court.
The SIM swapping scam has been affecting more and more Australians nationwide, with the average victim reported to be losing over $28,000 to hackers.
Fiona Cameron, the Chair of the ACMA's Scam Taskforce, said: "SIM swap scams can cause a lot of harm as scammers can take control of your phone number and then use that to gain access to your online banking accounts."
"These new rules require multi-factor authentication of your identity such as confirming personal information and responding with a one-time code consistent with how other essential services like banking operate."
"We expect these rules will go a long way to stamping out unauthorised transactions like SIM-swap fraud and improve safeguards for telco customers."
So members, if you think you have been a victim of a phone number fraud, we suggest contacting your telco and financial institutions immediately!
To report a scam, head over to the Scamwatch website.
And for more information about any recent scams, check out our Scam Watch forum on the SDC website!
