Woman’s extreme steps to track down alleged identity thief
Katie Hastings said she’s a victim of stolen identity.
“This girl has the potential to ruin my life,” Ms Hastings told A Current Affair.
But when she felt police weren’t acting fast enough she turned detective.
“I am shutting everything down, I am playing cat and mouse with her,” Ms Hastings said.
“I was like bugger this, I’m going to go and investigate this myself. I’m going to find her.”
Ms Hastings said the woman who allegedly stole her identity picked on the wrong girl.
“On the 7th of May I got a call from a Vodafone employee when I was in Brisbane working. And he said ‘are you in Burwood Shopping Centre?’ and I said ‘No, I’m in Brisbane.’ and he said ‘there’s a version of you trying to buy a phone’,” Ms Hastings said.
The next day, Ms Hastings said she flew home and drove herself straight to her local police station to file a report.
“That night I had all of these verification codes sent through to my phone. I was like ‘oh my god, she’s trying to get into my accounts or my emails or my bank’, it was that type of verification code. I went back to the police station the next day and I said ‘have you spoken to the witness? What have you done?’ And they said ‘it’s only been 24 to 48 hours, give us some time’,” Ms Hastings said.
But Ms Hastings said she couldn’t wait that long.
“Within three days, what she had done was apply for multiple phones and credit cards, she tried to break into my account.
So Ms Hastings took matters into her own hands.
First she travelled to the Vodafone store and spoke with the employee who called her.
“The next step was I went and sat in the seat she was sitting in and I thought to myself, ‘there’s four cameras on me here with a clear view of my face, bang, bang, bang’. So I contact Westfield security,” she said.
Ms Hastings said security told her the woman made her way to Optus and then Coles.
“She went into Coles at approximately 10.05am and she came out at 4.27pm,” Ms Hastings said.
“She went into Optus and this is where she found out I didn’t have an account there, so she could probably purchase a phone there. So she did an online order the day after and it went through.”
So the real Katie Hastings paid the Optus store a visit.
“They paused and asked me for my ID. It was the same ID as was on the screen, it was my birth date, she even had my address, she knows where I live, everything. And they’re like ‘well this is you’, so I got her address. I now have her face, her number, and I have her address,” Ms Hastings said.
And then Ms Hastings took an extreme step.
“I sat outside her apartment. I wanted to know if that was her real address or just a drop point and she’s part of a bigger criminal syndicate,” Ms Hastings said.
Finally Ms Hastings went to replace her driver licence.
“I went into Service NSW and they said to me that I can’t actually change my licence number, I need to apply for it in court and I have to jump through all these hoops. I needed to prove that this is happening to me and I needed the police report. However there is no police report because they hadn’t started it,” she said.
Cyber security expert Nick Savvides said identity theft could fall into two categories.
“Either an account takeover so access to your bank accounts to steal your money, or they’re using your identity documents to get things in your name. New loans, new services, new phone services, and then you’re left with the bill,” Mr Savvides said.
“Identity theft is a very big problem and the law has still not caught up with it. We have differing laws in every state and it can be very difficult for consumers to navigate what to do.
“Make sure you get a police report or at least a reference number. It’s absolutely critical to document the timeline and everything that’s happened when you believe an identity crime has been committed against you.”
Earlier this month the alleged identity thief was charged with larceny and break and enter with the intent to steal more than $60,000.
Police claim they found a number of unlawfully obtained goods at her home, including a driver licence, a Medicare card, and other forms of ID which did not belong to her.
A Current Affair caught up with the woman, who can’t be identified for legal reasons.
“Basically what they do is employ people to steal documentation on individuals and then they create a dossier, and then they sell those details onto organised crime groups,” Detective Superintendent Linda Howlett, Commander of the Financial Crime Squad at NSW Police, said.
“In 2020, Australians lost approximately $851 million to scams and identity theft is the corner stone for these scams.
“It’s only a matter of time before we knock on your door and arrest you. What I’d say to victims: secure your documentation, because at the end of the day it can have a devastating effect on your credit rating, travelling overseas, it has a devastating effect on poor innocent victims.”
“I’m so scared. But I’ve done everything I can in my power. It’s time for the police to do what they do now,” Ms Hastings said.
