AFP nabs alleged smisher targeting mobile phone customers

The Australian Federal Police has arrested a 36-year-old man in Tomakin on the NSW south coast, for allegedly targeting mobile telco customers with a phishing campaign.

He was arrested on September 9 this year after an unnamed telco on August 20 reported to the AFP that some of its customers had suffered malicious cyber activities.

Police allege the man sent phishing texts (smishing) to the telco's customers, claiming that their mobile service would be restricted due to missed payments.

A link was included in the messages that took customers who clicked on it to a malicious website, which would harvest the victims' personal information and banking details.

Police did not quantify the losses suffered by the telco's customers, or how many were affected by the smishing.

Computers, laptops, mobile devices and SIM cards were seized by the police as evidence.

Police undertook a forensic assessment of one of the seized laptops, which "allegedly revealed a substantial quantity of personally identifiable information of other people".

This included their user names, passwords and credentials for websites and applications; police are trying to ascertain where that information originates from.

The 36-year-old was charged with one computer offence, and another of dishonestly obtaining and dealing in personal information.

Police said the offences carry maximum penalties of three and five years respectively.

Detective Inspector Steven Wiggins of the AFP encouraged everyone who have been victims of a scam to report it to the relevant authorities, irrespective if they suffered a loss or not.