Scams like these

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Don't shoot me for not reading the last 307 pages to catch up!

Has anyone here been the victim of fraud involving Telstra?

I am in the process of resolving a fraud case where Telstra didn't authenticate someone before allowing them to transfer all of my personal details on my account to theirs and then racking up debt in my name.

If you have also gone through something similar with Telstra and received a compensation payout could you send me a message? I know they will try and fob me off with something pithy but if I have an amount in the realms of reasonable I will stand my ground a lot better.

Do either of these reports fit your circumstances?

Telstra penalised $1.5m for scam rule breaches | ACMA

Telstra has paid a $1,551,000 penalty after failing to perform required customer ID authentication processes, leaving thousands of

www.acma.gov.au

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/customer-scammed-20000-after-telstra-representative-gives-out-personal-details/news-story/90150d435ced674117e3925fbf1d48dc

 

[FlyingFiona]

Do either of these reports fit your circumstances?

Telstra penalised $1.5m for scam rule breaches | ACMA

Telstra has paid a $1,551,000 penalty after failing to perform required customer ID authentication processes, leaving thousands of

www.acma.gov.au

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/customer-scammed-20000-after-telstra-representative-gives-out-personal-details/news-story/90150d435ced674117e3925fbf1d48dc

Yes, the first. I had come across that article. But it doesn't say what Telstra are required to give individual customers as compensation.

Someone rang their call centre, said it was me, the call centre person in the Phils didn't do any kind of ID verification, changed my email, phone number, and home address and then processed an order for the most expensive phone on offer (iPhone Max Pro titanium with 1TB of storage - which is only available over the phone because of the extreme storage option) and signed the person up to a plan. I only found out 7 months later when I went to change my pre-paid mobile sim from Woolies to Boost and couldn't activate my Boost sim online because I couldn't access my account.

In-store Telstra have been great and gave me proof of the call-centre person's failure to do an ID check. Fraud team Telstra have been shocking - started the call to me with "you're the customer who bought a phone last year and is now claiming you didn't, is that right?" and ended up in him calling me every single day bullying me to "hurry up and produce the documents I told you to send me" which included a police report (not possible, Vic police don't deal with cyber crime" and a stat dec which had to be signed in a police station - and then yelling at me when I said a stat dec can be signed by anyone on the approval listing and that in my town the police won't sign them, they have a JP sitting at the desk for that purpose.

So it's Ombudsman time.

BUT the scammer used my Passport so I'm going to have to get it reissued I think. I have since discovered more activity when looking at my credit report (which I've had monthly emails on and because they were always high I didn't ever run a full report because i had no idea something was amiss).

Sigh. It has consumed hours already. I just thank the Lord my number wasn't ported. In-store Telstra told me it happens ALL the time and that their online/call centre team are terrible for not doing checks.

I will NEVER use Telstra again after this.

 

[DejaBrew]

So it's Ombudsman time.

100% this. FWIW, I’ve personally had great success with the ombudsman when dealing with telco complaints. Takes time, but the outcome is usually favourable.

Hope the additional identity theft damage doesn’t prove to be significant

I will NEVER use Telstra again after this.

Totally understand the sentiment and I’ve personally been there too (with other telcos). Ultimately have taken the approach of use and abuse (not in any dodgy/illegal way of course) as they don’t value loyalty (like so many other companies).

 

[Forg]

I will NEVER use Telstra again after this.

I’d do the same.

But … Telcos are all TERRIBLE for their customer service, should anything even slightly unusual happen. A mate of mine in the US spent 8hrs over the last couple of weeks on the ‘phone to Verizon renewing their service. I spent 3hrs on the ‘phone to Optus 6 months ago just to change our address, and in the process they managed to delete my wife’s email account & all its’ contents.

It’s like they sign-up to a pact when they become a Telco, and promise to provide the most unhelpful processes … and promise that even if the customer accidentally strikes a helpful staff-member they have to jump though hoops for hours just to make a simple thing happen.

 

[Happy Dude]

@FlyingFiona can you set your credit report to send a notification when it takes a hit/enquiry and/or when your info is used on the dark web?

My company was hacked and we all got Equifax accounts for two years which provided these notifications. I still occasionally get the dark web notifications. Any credit application notifications turned out to be mine but it still made the heart skip a beat or two.

 

[FlyingFiona]

@FlyingFiona can you set your credit report to send a notification when it takes a hit/enquiry and/or when your info is used on the dark web?

My company was hacked and we all got Equifax accounts for two years which provided these notifications. I still occasionally get the dark web notifications. Any credit application notifications turned out to be mine but it still made the heart skip a beat or two.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have placed a ban on my credit report so that any checks run will be refused. However, that only works if the businesses the scammer is trying to use my name at actually run a credit check, which the Telstra staff member did not (they didn't do any checks at all).

I have a Nord account so I'm think that covers the dark web stuff? To be honest, I've been scrambling to work out what to do as well as deal with competing urgent priorities in the rest of my life (the minor of which is a sudden infestation of mice in my kitchen pantry - not so financially stressful but they are not helping my sanity right now!!). So I know I still have things to put in place.

I have wasted a lot of time by going through and getting the list of things the Telstra fraud guy wanted until the local police station told me not to give them any more of my ID. It was only when a friend told me her cousin had had her (Telstra) number ported and put me onto her to hear her story that I actually started to get a sense of the situation and what needs to be done.

I assume once I report my Passport as compromised that I can apply to have a new one....what a waste of $259! Why couldn't it have been my Medicare card??!

 

[FlyingFiona]

I should have mentioned - that cousin of my friend was given $5K compensation by Telstra and she thinks she settled too early because she was just so over it all in the end. She also said that the Ombudsman's rep told her to take the first offer from Telstra which was for a few hundred dollars credit on her account.

 

[jenib]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have placed a ban on my credit report so that any checks run will be refused. However, that only works if the businesses the scammer is trying to use my name at actually run a credit check, which the Telstra staff member did not (they didn't do any checks at all).

I have a Nord account so I'm think that covers the dark web stuff? To be honest, I've been scrambling to work out what to do as well as deal with competing urgent priorities in the rest of my life (the minor of which is a sudden infestation of mice in my kitchen pantry - not so financially stressful but they are not helping my sanity right now!!). So I know I still have things to put in place.

I have wasted a lot of time by going through and getting the list of things the Telstra fraud guy wanted until the local police station told me not to give them any more of my ID. It was only when a friend told me her cousin had had her (Telstra) number ported and put me onto her to hear her story that I actually started to get a sense of the situation and what needs to be done.

I assume once I report my Passport as compromised that I can apply to have a new one....what a waste of $259! Why couldn't it have been my Medicare card??!

Check if they actually used your passport number. Just today I saw a similar situation where someone rang Qf, provided incorrect details and was still ‘authenticated’ by the call centre so the scammer could take over their qff account. Sorry this has happened to you