Delivery
Received the strange notification which prompted her to enter a code.
Write up
An Aussie woman lost almost $40,000 after a scammer accessed her online banking details from an old phone she dropped off at an e-waste program.
Harmony Antoinette was relaxing in her Melbourne home when she received the strange notification which prompted her to enter a code.
However, within an hour she lost almost $40,000 after the hacker made several online purchases using her wallet ID.
Ms Antoinette, who worked in the financial services for 14 years, was extremely careful not to open phishing texts or respond to scammers.
She believes her details were taken from an old phone after she dropped it off at an e-waste program in Melbourne.
Ms Antoinette immediately called Commonwealth Bank to notify them of the scam and to have her account blocked to prevent any unwanted transactions.
The Commbank staff member reassured Ms Antoinette that her banking would be reset and the transactions could be reversed.
‘The lady I spoke to was lovely and reassuring and told me I had called in time and that the transactions could be reversed because I’d called so quickly, and she was very apologetic,’ Ms Antoinette told 7News.
‘Then while I was on my way to work I got another notification that a transaction had been initiated by my wallet ID.’
However, Ms Antoinette then started receiving email notifications from retailers regarding online purchases including more than $2,000 on Catch.com.au and an email from JB Hi-Fi about a purchase they rejected because of suspected fraud.
Ms Antoinette then called CBA’s fraud department which told her that they believed she made the purchases.
A total of $40,000 was taken out of Ms Antoinette’s account, half of which was reversed overnight.
Ms Antoinette is fighting for the remaining $20,000 – which was made up merchant deductions – and fears her identity and personal information has been breached.
‘I thought it would be OK because I’ve banked with CommBank for 14 years… I thought it should show that I’m a legitimate customer,’ she said.
‘They were just making me feel like a criminal. Why would I cause myself this much stress if I’d done this on purpose?. I am really scared for my safety and my identity.’
Ms Antoinette has lodged a complaint with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and changed her online details.
Daily Mail Australia contacted Commonwealth Bank of Australia for comment.
CommBank explained the fraud occurred after a third party accessed Ms Antoinette’s device and the passcodes registered with her CommBank Tap & Pay – an account which she had for three years associated to her banking profile.
‘In this instance, the disputed transactions were made from a device registered to the customer’s CommBank app,’ a CommBank spokesperson said.
‘As such, the transactions were not detected as suspicious or unusual. We encourage customers to be vigilant and protect their personal information.’
Commbank urged its customers to remove it’s banking app and restore their phones to factory settings to erase personal data before recycling their old devices.
‘Customers should remove the CommBank app and restore a device to its factory settings to erase all your personal data, including any passcodes before disposing of, giving away or selling a device,’ they said.
‘Customers can also deregister the CommBank app on another device within the app.’
The bank working with Ms Antoinette to resolve her complaint and the disputed transactions.
