A Melbourne family who had their personal data breached in the Optus cyberattack have revealed they’ve lost tens of thousands of dollars from suspected identity theft.
Fkn yikes.
Elsternwick local Jim Marinis told The Age myriad cash withdrawals had been made in his name at ANZ branches across Melbourne, totalling almost $40,000.
He said he noticed the first withdrawal a fortnight ago, when almost $10,000 was taken from his bank account.
As well as withdrawing cash, Marinis told the publication there have also been fraudulent credit card applications, online shopping vouchers and personal loans taken out in his name.
They had a combined total of more than $60,000 and thankfully, have all been cancelled after they were approved at first.
“It’s just fucking destroying us,” Marinis said.
His wife Mary-Jane Duffy said the family’s accounts have been frozen ‘cos of all the suspicious activity.
According to The Age, it hasn’t been proven that the criminals got into Marinis’ bank account using personal information exposed in the Optus cyberattack. However, the cafe owner believes this is what happened.
When the publication asked Optus about the case, it was told: “No customer payment details, including any direct debit or credit card information, nor passwords, including My Optus app logins, have been compromised in the cyberattack on Optus customers.”
An ANZ spokesperson told The Age it had “a range of processes and systems in place to protect our customers against fraud and scams”.
It’s absolutely terrifying, especially seeing as there’s been a spate of cyberattacks on ‘yuge companies in the last few months. Most recently, PNORS Technology Group announced it had been targeted by hackers on Saturday, putting the data of thousands of Victorian students and their families at risk.
While the company name may not sound too familiar, the technology group provides personal data to myriad Victorian government departments.
Sources told The Sunday Age that information from the Victorian school entrance health questionnaire — which is completed by families who start at at all Victorian primary schools — had been exposed. The questionnaire included extremely sensitive personal information, such as demographics, developmental and behavioural issues and family alcohol or drug problems.
And on Thursday, Harcourts announced that its rental property database had been accessed by an “unknown third party without authorisation”. The real estate agency said the breach only affected customers from its Melbourne City branch, which is believed to consist of fewer than 1,000 people.
Nearly 10 million current and former Optus customers had their personal information exposed in the September cyberattack, while up to 3.9 million Medibank customers had their data compromised after hackers targeted the health insurer in October.
Is any of our data safe anymore?
