Today I’ve got a frightening warning for everyone using a mobile phone. And it comes from a real story about Matthew, a friend’s son who was robbed using his own mobile phone last week – and a growing number of situations just like his are happening all over the world.
Matthew*, 26, was standing on the street corner at 7pm on a Friday night in Angel Islington in London, ordering an Uber on his mobile phone. A thief sprinted past, snatching the unlocked phone right out of his grip. Within minutes, a nightmare unfolded.
Be careful when using your phone in public when overseas.Credit: Digital Vision
With the unlocked phone in hand, the thieves had an open and free pass into Matthew’s financial world. They immediately reset his phone password, then set about using his email address and text messages, which they had direct access to, to confirm two-factor authentication on his bank accounts.
They transferred thousands of pounds from his accounts, intercepting the text messages to authorise the bank transfers that come into your phone. Then they started purchasing online gift cards with his credit cards. They also reset his passwords, locking him out completely.
Then, they accessed his WhatsApp, messaging his friends and his boss, claiming that he’d lost his phone and was stranded and in urgent need of money. More than £7,500 ($14,627) was transferred to his accounts – everything they could access using his online banking cards.
Matthew was initially slow to........