At 54, Steve Fisher thought he would finally realize his dream of owning his own home, but it seems some hackers had other plans for him after stealing $90,000 from him.
Mr Fisher, a victim of sexual abuse by an Anglican priest, struggles with PTSD, anxiety and depression every day. But this year, he was vindicated – financially at least – by receiving compensation from the Anglican Church which he planned to use to buy a house in north-west Tasmania.
The lawyer who handled all the relevant procedures for purchasing the homesent Mr. Fisher an email with the relevant details and a bank account to transfer the $90,000.
After making the transfer, Mr. Fisher said he received a call from his lawyer asking him where the money was – the email had been intercepted by a hacker and the account details had been changed.
Real estate buyers are a very common target for hackers
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said Australians lost more than $130 million last year to scams carried out via email.
Delia Rickard of the ACCC said the hack Mr Fisher fell victim to was a classic email scam, usually targeting businesses. Hackers intercept emails and change bank details, redirecting the money to their own accounts.
“It was the number one cause of money loss in 2019,” she said. She also said that real estate buyers are a common target for hackers. “When our lawyer sends us an email asking us to transfer money to an account, we have to do a phone call to verify the details,” Delia Rickard said.
Michael Connory, a cybersecurity, said that cyberscams carried out via email have doubled compared to last year.
“As soon as COVID-19 appeared, on March 13, we saw the numbers of attacks skyrocket and since then they have not decreased at all, on the contrary they continue to rise,” said Mr. Connory.
From June last year to this year, there has been a 127% increase in these types of attacks. Users are much more vulnerable since they work from home (using their own computers and WiFi).
Mr Connory said people should make sure they have good antivirus and antimalware programs and set up multiple authentication where possible.
The money was returned to Mr. Fisher
Mr Fisher is one of the lucky ones. After discovering what had happened, he contacted the two banks he had transferred the money and Tasmania Police. The police tracked down the hacker in Queensland – even his name and address. But when they went to the address, no one by that name lived there.
A Queensland Police spokesman said the person may not even be real, but a notice has been issued in case he appears again. The investigation into Mr Fisher's case remains open.
“We were so lucky to get — speaking for him and his wife — our money back, it was unbelievable, most people don’t,” Mr. Fisher said. It took four weeks to get the money back. Mr. Fisher said at the time he didn’t know if it was gone forever. “I never want anyone to feel the way I felt during that month,” Mr. Fisher said.
