The owner of an Elsternwick eatery, whose information was made public when Optus was breached in September, had taken out close to $10,000 of his ANZ bank account.
Over $60,000 was fraudulently applied for in credit card, internet shopping, and personal loan applications. Two weeks ago, Jim Marinis became aware of a problem. He quickly learned that numerous additional cash withdrawals had been made at ANZ locations all throughout Melbourne in his name.
After sensitive data was made available online as a result of the hack, the Australian Federal Police initiated Operation Guardian in September to protect Optus customers who were at a high risk of identity theft.
Marinis, who shares a home with his wife Mary-Jane Daffy and two daughters, has now lost approximately $40,000 due to teller withdrawals and claims things are just getting worse despite the fact that the applications for the voucher, credit card, and loan were initially granted before being canceled.
A Sydney youngster was accused in relation to an SMS hoax that demanded money from dozens of Optus customers whose data was leaked, and he appeared in court last week.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Optus responded to a question about Marinis' situation by stating: "No customer payment details, including any direct debit or credit card information, nor passwords, including My Optus app logins, have been stolen in the cyberattack on Optus consumers."
Although Marinis was annoyed that a teller allegedly permitted cash withdrawals after he informed the bank of the suspected identity theft, he appreciated the efforts of ANZ's fraud team.
After the organization promised to pay for roughly 1 million new licenses for Optus customers in order to prevent them from identity theft, Marinis was also disappointed that VicRoads had not yet updated his license.
