'They stole $8,500 in minutes': How a young couple lost thousands from their wedding account after falling victim to a simple phone number scam - and you could be at risk too
- A couple had almost $10,000 stolen from their wedding day bank account
- Jamie Heslop and Dea Krvavac were targeted by a SIM swapping scammer
- A fraudster will use a person's details to impersonate them to a phone network
- They can then ask the network to transfer the number to a new SIM card
- The fraudster can then intercept password verification texts and hack accounts
An engaged couple had their wedding day dreams shattered after they fell victim to a phone number swapping scam and had almost $10,000 stolen in a matter of minutes.
Jamie Heslop and Dea Krvavac from Adelaide were left devastated after a scammer obtained Mr Heslop's personal details and gained access to their wedding bank account in April.
The scheme, known as fraudulent phone porting, involves a con-artist targeting an unsuspecting individual and moves their phone number from one SIM to another.
Jamie Heslop and Dea Krvavac (both pictured) from Adelaide were left devastated after a scammer succeeded in obtaining Mr Heslop's personal details
The scammer can swap SIMs simply by relaying certain details about the rightful owner - such as their name, date of birth and mobile number - to the network provider customer service agent, and then ask to move the number to a new SIM.
The majority of network providers send a text message alerting the rightful owner their number is being swapped to another SIM - giving the owner the fleeting chance to prevent the scam from continuing.
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But Mr Heslop said he didn't receive such a warning and was left none-the-wiser when a fraudster accessed his personal details, amended his passwords and then stole money which was supposed to pay for his wedding day.
Personal details, such as bank account and social media passwords, can be accessed by the scammer when the number is transferred to a new SIM and they can intercept password verification text messages.
When Mr Heslop (pictured left) was first targeted he was left unable to ring his fiancee Ms Krvavac (pictured right)
Mr Heslop (pictured right) said he was shocked to discover how little information was actually required for a fraudster to obtain such a large amount of personal detail
But while the scammer is using the number, the original owner is cut off.
When Mr Heslop was first targeted he was left unable to ring his fiancee Ms Krvavac and his mobile network cut out.
But instead of investigating why his phone wouldn't connect, Mr Heslop assumed it was just been a billing issue.
It was only when he was denied access to his Gmail account because his password had been changed that Mr Heslop realised something suspicious had happened.
'I then checked my Netbank account. I was able to get in so the password hadn't been changed but a fair sum of money had been taken from our joint wedding account,' he told Yahoo News.
The unknown con-artist had snatched $8,500 from the couple's wedding bank account – leaving them frantically trying to freeze their bank accounts.
Despite the money going missing relatively soon after Mr Heslop's phone connection cut out, the couple still didn't realise the inactive phone number was how their money had been taken.
'It was only until after we got home from the movie that we looked into it and we found that other people had experienced their phone number being ported out to a different SIM,' Mr Heslop said.
Mr Heslop said he was shocked to discover how little information was actually required for a fraudster to obtain such a large amount of personal details.
'They (Mr Heslop's phone provider) didn't really give me a good idea of how someone had done it but we figured out that all you need to deal with customer support and pretend to be someone was the phone number, date of birth and their full name,' Mr Heslop said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Krvavac and Mr Heslop for comment.
