Scammers took over my phone and email and tried to rob £30,000 – I feel traumatised

One Saturday, Aaron Godsi was observing Shabbat – Judaism’s weekly day of rest – and was avoiding operating any electrical devices entirely.

To his horror, the next day, when he looked at his phone, he could physically see his bank accounts being drained – with endless notifications of purchases that had been made.

He could see things being purchased on Deliveroo and Uber Eats, and could even see a pair of AirPods being ordered and delivered.

In that 25 hours, he had been kicked out of my email, his phone and all of his multiple banks and card providers. Fraudsters had taken control of everything, and he couldn’t even verify himself.

Aaron, 27, who lives in north west London and runs a marketing agency, said he had never felt “so helpless.”

“They took over my phone sim, my email and my WhatsApp and suddenly, I couldn’t even make a phone call to the police without relying on family members. At the same time, they were maxing out my credit and debit cards. It was overwhelming and I felt powerless,” he says.

The fraud attack happened in October last year, just weeks before Aaron’s wedding to his wife, Liora, in Belgium in December.

“I could see things being ordered through Selfridges,” Aaron told The i Paper. “The fraudsters even tried to take a car out in my name and went to a jewellery store and tried to use my name to get credit,” he adds.

“Through gaining control of my personal mobile, email address and WhatsApp account, they had access to sensitive information stored on my phone, including my banking and card accounts.

“I was constantly on the phone to the police as I could see the locations where they were trying to get things delivered to. But the fraudsters would make sure the deliveries went to near blocks of flats with 500 addresses.”

Aaron says with guidance from police and fraud helplines, he was able to regain access to his email address, which was one of the most fundamental ways out of the fraud.

He describes being engaged in a battle with the fraudsters as they kept changing the password he had changed, before he was eventually able to regain control.

“I was lucky that I managed to get a backdoor to my email through a very old email address, and through that, I was able to gain access to my emails and change my passwords.

“But the fraudsters were able to change the passwords I changed, and we were in a battle for about 40 minutes before I changed it to two-step authentication, kicked everyone out and made it only accessible through the authenticator app.”

Aaron now realises fraudsters took control by making an e-sim – a digital sim card – of his mobile phone and then changing all his information and gaining power over his accounts.

Thankfully, after opening a fraud claim, he gradually started getting his money back and many of the attempted frauds were stopped by the multiple banks and credit card providers he is a customer with before they happened.

“They took around £10,000 across all my cards and then tried to take another £20,000 in loans in my name. In total, they attempted fraud of £30,000 against me.”

While Aaron managed to get the bulk of the charges removed by the banks, he is still around £500 to £600 out of pocket. The fraudsters also spent all the credit he had accumulated on his Deliveroo account and to this day, he still does not have access to Uber or Deliveroo.

Even on his wedding day on 21 December, Aaron was not free from the ordeal. As he was in his wedding car, enjoying a rare private moment with his wife, his phone pinged with a notification telling him that someone had tried to take out a £2,000 loan on his PayPal account.

“Every time I get a phone notification now, I feel traumatised,” said Aaron. “At one point, me and my wife just broke down in tears because it was all getting too much.”

New figures reveal that British people lost more than £252m to retail and banking fraud in the last 12 months, with over 122,000 cases linked to stolen card and banking details alone.

The data, obtained by a Freedom of Information request to Action Fraud by Confused.com, showed retail and banking fraud has cost UK consumers £252.8m in the last year, with an average loss of £1,307 per victim.

Retail and banking fraud was most commonly reported by people in their working years, with those aged 20 to 59 accounting for 75 per cent of all age-based reports. Reports peaked among people aged 30 to 39, with 22,200 cases recorded, suggesting many fraudsters may be targeting those most likely to shop online, manage multiple accounts and make frequent digital payments.

Aaron believes a data leak led to his fraud attack. He says the experience has completely changed the way he does things.

“One of the biggest lessons I learned is how important passwords and account security really are,” he said.

Nicola Morgan, consumer finance expert at Confused.com, said: “Card and banking fraud can happen quickly and often without victims realising until it is too late, which is why staying alert to unusual activity is so important.

“If your card is lost, stolen or used fraudulently, contact your bank straight away so they can freeze or cancel the card and investigate any transactions. You should also change any linked passwords, monitor your accounts closely and report the incident to Action Fraud.

“Acting quickly can help limit financial losses and reduce the risk of further fraud.”

Steps to reduce the risk of being targeted by online fraud:

• Check your bank statements regularly so you can spot any unusual or unexpected payments early. Criminals often test stolen details with small purchases first.

• Shop only with trusted retailers online and make sure websites are secure before entering payment details.

• Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication to make it harder for criminals to access your accounts.

• Avoid saving card details on accounts or websites you do not use regularly.

• Be cautious of unexpected calls, texts or emails asking for payment or account information.