A North East man says he nearly lost over £50,000 whilst on a cruise due to a SIM card swap identity theft scam.

Ian Finlay from Maltby near Middlesbrough first noticed unusual activity on his phone whilst using banking apps on a long planned trip abroad.

A duplicate SIM card matching Ian's was sent from a fraudster to an address in London.

The offender then had access to Ian’s mobile phone account, his online banking apps including five credit cards and three bank accounts.

Luckily, Ian's banks had been suspicious of the activity and made sure he wasn’t out of pocket.  However, he was told he’d likely been the victim of identity theft following a SIM card swap scam. 

Ian said: “It’s difficult to describe how upsetting it is to be on the other side of the world, on a ship in the middle of the ocean and have all your cards go down.

“My wife and I felt totally helpless; it was quite scary, and our first thought was ‘what have we done wrong?’ We started going over our tracks, wondering where we could have made a mistake, but we hadn’t. We started to feel very angry.”   

By the time he got back to the UK, Ian was working with his phone provider to try and resolve the issue for good. 

Sadly, the fraudster managed to access Ian’s mobile account again, upgraded the account, and more.

Ian took his case to the Communications Ombudsman and was awarded £200 as a goodwill gesture due to "shortfalls" but declined, believing his experience wasn't being taken seriously.

Since the incident, Ian has been working with the PCC-funded Victim Care and Advice Service (VCAS) and is now campaigning to raise awareness of the issue.

Ian said: “Mobile phone companies need to provide a much higher level duty of care than they currently recognise. They should be regulated in the same way as the banking sector, to improve accountability. 

“Accessing someone’s mobile phone data can have significant consequences; fraudsters can access multiple bank accounts and credit cards through one phone.” 

Dave Mead, manager of VCAS, said scams like this can have a big impact.

He said: “Everyone reacts differently, but it’s common to feel targeted as it can feel very personal, which leads people to feel less trusting.  

“Anger, anxiety, feelings of helplessness are very normal and we are here support you and help you recover.” 

Cleveland PCC Matt Storey added: “Ian’s tenacity paid off and he did manage to claw back his cash. 

“Less pro-active individuals would have found the process of dealing with the banks, mobile ‘phone provider and Ombudsman too daunting and may have given up. 

Recommended:

Get more content including the stories that matter to your community from The Northern Echo for just £2 for 2 months for a limited time only here.

“Well done to Ian for fighting his corner and winning his case with the Ombudsman! 

“However, the result has been to highlight just how easy it is to “steal” some-one’s identity and gain access to their personal accounts. 

“It demonstrates the need for tighter security on any account, where customers could stand to lose a substantial amount of money if it is compromised.”