Simon Edwards has had his whole life upended after hackers got into his smartphone and stole all of his data. Photo / 123RF
Simon Edwards has had his whole life upended after hackers got into his smartphone and stole all of his data. Photo / 123RF
Melbourne man Simon Edwards, 44, had noticed odd things happening on his iPhone and laptop, so booked an appointment at his local Apple store to see if they could help.
His original appointment, towards the end of 2019, was inconclusive, but six months later, a technician came back to him with a chilling finding – his phone was part of a family sharing plan that he knew nothing about.
"You're the child and there's a parent," the Apple employee said.
This gave the "parent" the ability to monitor his actions and block him from using certain apps on his phone through parental controls.
"Hang on a second, I'm a single man, how is this happening?" Edwards told news.com.au.
It was the beginning of "two years of absolute hell", for Edwards, after malware infected his phone and spread to all his devices.
He lost $9500, nearly lost another $10,000, and the hack was so severe that his smart TV, his security cameras and even his car were taken over by cyber criminals.
Edwards has had to quit his job and move in with his parents in regional NSW to focus his attention on removing the hackers from his systems.
Simon Edwards made a chilling discovery in a Melbourne Apple store. Photo / Getty
However, two years later, he has been unable to shake the online virus — and suspects it came from someone he met on a dating app.
"This has completely ruined my life," Edwards said.
His credit cards, his Afterpay, Uber and all his social media accounts, as well as his tax return were stolen by the hackers.
He suspects somebody is constantly monitoring his screens and his keystrokes using spyware and is certain that all his personal details have been shared on the dark web.
"Every shred of personal data is gone. I can't change my date of birth," he said. "I can't claw back what's happened. I have to live with it.
"I've always been the person to think the best of people but it's changed how I view everyone around me. It just takes one person with bad intentions to wreak so much havoc."
How the nightmare started
The alarm bells started ringing at the end of 2019, when Edwards started noticing strange things on his phone and laptop.
Legitimate websites were suddenly plagued with pop-ups, emails wouldn't send when they said they had, and his screens would constantly jump and shake.
The apps on his phone would "grey out" and become unusable. It got to a point where he had to factory reset his phone every two hours.
His smart TV, car and security cameras were all connected to his phone through bluetooth. Some apps would also disappear and his security cameras have unexplained gaps in their feeds.
Every time he sends an email a Pegasus spyware warning appears. Screen mirroring is constantly turned on for his phone and laptop, remotely streaming to an unknown person.
Going for the money
During the same time, he noticed something odd happening to his finances.
His social media accounts fell to hackers and he had to cancel his credit card after someone starting racking up debt in his name.
To date, he's had to cancel his credit card four times in two years.
The bank had to recover around $8000 in fraudulent spending on his credit card, Afterpay and Uber accounts. A further $1500 was spent through his Apple ID.
Then a fraudulent tax agent added themselves to Edwards' ATO account, changing years worth of tax lodgings and trying to intercept a $10,000 tax return.
Apple gave a total of $300 in compensation and are still working with him to resolve his issues.
He has reported it to police.
The identity theft is so extreme that Edwards received a Commonwealth Victims Certificate in November last year to show government agencies and financial institutions to help manage his situation.
"The Commonwealth victims' certificates may be helpful if you are a victim of a Commonwealth identity crime and the theft is causing you problems in your business or personal affairs," according to the Department of Home Affairs.
Edwards has been left scratching his head about how the cyber attack occurred in the first place.
At first he thought a work computer he inherited after being promoted had malware in it, which spread to his personal devices.
However, his workplace has emphatically denied those claims.
They hired an independent third party IT contractor who found no signs of a cyber breach on any of their work devices.
Instead, he now suspects his phone was infected via a dating app.
Edwards quit his job in April last year because he felt crippled and unable to do anything with the cyber threat hanging over his head.
He also left Victoria and moved back in with his mother.
"I moved here [regional NSW] nearly a year ago from Melbourne trying to escape this cyber hell, it's actually just followed me here," he said.
"I've done every different common sense thing you can think of, new phone, new email address, new SIM card, new credit card number, where there's no carry over."
The problem has persisted.
He estimates he's spent about $10,000 on IT help and to buy new devices, including analogue TVs to stop the hackers.
