A man has been charged with attempting to blackmail Optus customers impacted by the telco’s massive cyber attack.
The 19-year-old was arrested at a home in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale this morning.
It’s alleged the man sent text messages to dozens of Optus customers demanding they deposit $2000 into a Commonwealth Bank account or their details would be used for financial crimes.
The man allegedly used data that had been uploaded by hackers onto an online forum to target his victims.
Commonwealth Bank immediately suspended the account while Federal Police launched an investigation.
Police will allege the account was held by a juvenile but was being used by the man.
A mobile phone allegedly linked to the text messages was seized during this morning’s arrest.
IMAGE: Australian Federal Police
It’s believed at least 93 Optus customers received the text messages.
However, the AFP doesn’t believe any of them actually transferred any money.
The man will front court at a later date.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Cyber Command Justine Gough said the man was not suspected of being the individual responsible for the Optus breach but allegedly tried to financially benefit from the stolen data that was dumped on an online forum.
“Last week, the AFP and our state and territory partners launched Operation Guardian to protect the most vulnerable customers affected by the Optus breach and we were absolutely clear that there would be no tolerance for the criminal use of this stolen data,’’ Assistant Commissioner Gough said.
Investigations to try and identify the hacker are continuing.
