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Thieves drained my bank account of £21k after I made easy mistake on night out – how to avoid it happening to you
The cruel thieves were never caught but James wanted to turn his ordeal into a positive
JAMES O’Sullivan considers himself an optimist - but his positive spirit was tested when his bank account was drained of £21k after making an easy mistake on a night out.
On St Patrick’s Day last year, the technology entrepreneur had been enjoying drinks with friends in Dublin after watching England’s defeat to Ireland in the Six Nations Rugby tournament.
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James had just bought a drink at the bar and was in good spirits - but after returning to his pals, he realised his phone was missing.
He initially thought perhaps he had dropped his phone, but in reality it had been swiped from his trouser pocket - incredibly easy to do in a crowded room.
James shrugged off the loss, feeling comforted that he had Face ID set up on his iPhone and no one knew his pin, so they wouldn't be able to access his personal information or the bank accounts.
But unfortunately, he couldn't have been more wrong, as the fraudsters had been watching him throughout the night and saw him use his pin, which meant they were able to get in and drain £21,000 of his savings from his Apple Wallet.
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When you set up face ID on your phone, if it fails to work for any reason, you are asked to put your pin in instead.
'A wave of fear washed over me'
Because he didn't think his phone was at risk of being hacked, James was fairly relaxed at first.
He asked staff at the bar about his phone and they said it wasn't uncommon for phones to be found when they were cleaning up at the end of the night, so told him to come back in the morning.
But panic started to set in when he arrived the next morning and his phone hadn't been handed in.
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James had a number of cards in his Apple wallet on his phone - 10 in total - along with other apps for investments and social media.
They weren't able to gain direct access to his bank accounts - although beware that if your pin is the same for your banking apps as your phone, you could be at risk.
While he thought his phone was safe, he still had a gut feeling he should get his accounts frozen.
He tried to log into his iCloud account but couldn't get access, so he used his wife's phone to start calling banks to cancel all his cards.
"I had to prioritise which one I went to first as it was slow process," he said.
"I had to call them because without your phone, you can’t login online to cancel or request a new card, and when you do get through, authentication is harder because they can’t send a code to your phone."
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Then, about 45 mins after he began freezing his cards, James received an email from one bank saying it had refused a transaction on his card at a shop in Dublin city centre.
That was when James knew his phone had been stolen, and realised that the thieves had somehow got into it and already started spending his cash.
"Only one bank contacted me by email when something unusual happened - without this email, I probably wouldn’t have known of the theft for a while longer," James said.
"It was only then that I knew my phone had been stolen and not lost, and a whole new wave of fear washed over me."
It turned out the thieves had been watching him throughout the night until they saw him type in his pin code, which they were later able to use to get into his phone.
And once they were in his phone, they were able to turn off all biometric security.
James spent hours in total calling each bank and investment firm to freeze his cards.
“It took me about six hours to cancel everything. It was so stressful, as I knew while I was freezing card number two, card number eight was still active and [the criminals] can still spend that money.”
Before James was able to cancel all his accounts, the thieves managed to spend a whopping €25,000 (£21,000) across his nine bank cards, mostly buying lavish new tech.
Luckily, James and his wife had some savings elsewhere which they could survive on while they waited to get some of the stolen money back - but it took almost a month for the banks to decide whether to refund him.
New beginnings
Sitting on the plane en route to a stag do a few months later, James was mulling over what happened to him and had a light bulb moment.
The 44-year-old decided to take matters into his own hands and develop a business to streamline the process of cancelling bank cards on your phone.
James, who has a background in software, came up with the idea for his app, Nuke for Orbit, and quickly wrote up a plan.
The service, which is set to launch later this year, will allow subscribers to block access to multiple services and accounts all at once, meaning they are far less likely to lose money if their phone is stolen.
When the product launches, it will be free for the first year of use, but after that James said he will aim to keep charges for users under £10.
James said he expects to attract over one million users in the first year after launch.
How to protect yourself
The thief who stole James' phone was never caught, but he is confident that his business will help prevent this happening to others.
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However, it's important to take measures to protect yourself from your phone being stolen in the first place.
It's a good idea to keep your phone in a secure place, such as a zipped bag, to prevent opportunistic thieves from taking it without you realising.
And be careful to always hide your phone when entering your pin in public, so anyone lurking can't spot it.
The City of London Police recommends using a strong PIN or password to avoid it being repeated easily.
It says you can also track your phone down if it's stolen with its IMEI number.
"Get your phone’s IMEI number by typing *#06# on your phone keypad," it said.
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"Keep a note of it somewhere other than on your phone. The IMEI can help track the phone down if it’s lost or stolen."
If you've been scammed, you can get a crime number by contacting the police on 101 or report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
Ways to protect your online banking information
AGE UK has the following advice on how to protect yourself from scams when using online banking
- Use a strong password that avoids common words, numbers or keyboard patterns (such as 'password' or '123456'). Don't include personal information, such as your name, date of birth, or any family member's details in your password.
- Don't reuse passwords for different accounts.
- Never share your full password or PIN number. Banks will never ask for your full PIN or password – instead, they'll ask for specific numbers or letters, for example, the first and third character.
- Always log out of your online banking session, especially if you're using a shared device. If you're using a public computer, like a library computer, be particularly cautious – they may not have the right level of security software. If you need to, ask the library staff for more information.
- Only use secure Wi-Fi networks to access your online banking. If you use a public network, such as those in cafes or train stations, it may be possible for people on the same network to access your details.
- Check your balance and transactions regularly. If there's a transaction you don't recognise, report it to your bank straight away.
- Regularly check that your personal details are correct and up to date.
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