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Australians are expected to lodge their taxes over coming months for the 2023/24 financial year, and misinformation is already beginning to spread on the authority's social media pages.
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EXCLUSIVEAaron Willcox lost his entire $100,000 super to a hacker and feared he would be forced to work until the day he died... now there's been an incredible update
Melbourne data scientist Aaron Willcox, 43, was alarmed when he sat down to complete his tax return on July, 10 only to discover his retirement savings had completely vanished.
The mystery cyber-criminal also claimed hundreds of dollars from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to their own bank account.
Mr Wilcox was left reeling after his security and privacy were violated and he feared he would have to work until the day he dies.
Incredibly, Mr Wilcox told Daily Mail Australia Hostplus - his super fund provider - were able to retrieve the money at the end of last month.
Mr Wilcox explained the internal fraud team at the ATO also assisted by putting in place several security measures to lock his account.
When asked how he felt, he said he is now 'confident' about his financial future.
'That is comforting definitely, but the whole identity anxiety is still there,' Mr Wilcox said.
Aaron Willcox, 43, (pictured) said he is relieved to get his retirement savings back after a hacker stole more than $100,000 from his super balance
Aaron Willcox, 43, (pictured) said he is relieved to get his retirement savings back after a hacker stole more than $100,000 from his super balance
'I was lucky to get my money back'.
Mr Wilcox said he has now changed his bank account and he will also need to get a new mobile phone number.
His ATO account has been locked and he can only access it through the myGov app on his phone.
The account is also protected by two-factor authentication and the digital MyGov pass key and it has now been relinked to his super account.
Mr Wilcox issued a major warning to Aussies to take responsibility of their own digital footprint online and urged the government to do more to protect personal data.
He also encouraged people to use the myGovID app to protect themselves from hackers and suggested super accounts should be permitted to be linked to ATO accounts.
Earlier, Mr Wilcox told Daily Mail the first sign something was amiss was when he tried to log into the ATO via MyGov - but was bombarded with error messages.
He tried to use his super account to verify his identity, but he was blocked from logging in.
Concerned, Mr Willcox then logged into his Hostplus account - named Money Magazine's Best Super Fund of the year - and discovered his retirement savings had been swiped.
The only thing that remained were four documents, which outlined how the funds had been rolled over into another account - one that wasn't his.
Mr Willcox said he was 'shocked' and in 'disbelief', when asked how he felt at the time.
Mr Willcox 43, (pictured) discovered his money had been swiped from his Hostplus account when he sat down to do his tax return in June
Mr Willcox 43, (pictured) discovered his money had been swiped from his Hostplus account when he sat down to do his tax return in June
He notified the ATO and Hostplus about what had happened and both organisations launched investigations.
His super fund account was cancelled and his ATO account had already been locked.
'It's really scary that someone got in and I'm still wondering how,' Mr Willcox said.
'They've [hacker] not only got the super, they've got some other payouts from the ATO.'
He said it is difficult for officials from the ATO to provide him with information about exactly how his account was compromised as it could expose security breaches.
Mr Willcox said at the time his retirement plans had been completely derailed because of his ordeal, until he fought to get his money back.
'You feel invaded,' he said.
A Hostplus spokesman previously said staff stopped the stolen money from being transferred and they were working to have the money returned to Mr Wilcox.
'This matter was not caused by a breach of our systems or controls, but occurred as a result of a compromised myGov account,' the spokesman said.
'The security of the myGov platform is outside of the control of Hostplus however, proactive monitoring remains in place to identify and mitigate unauthorised transactions on our member accounts'.
Mr Wilcox issued a major warning to Aussies to take responsibility of their own digital footprint online and urged the government to do more to protect personal data (stock image)
Mr Wilcox issued a major warning to Aussies to take responsibility of their own digital footprint online and urged the government to do more to protect personal data
An ATO spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr Willcox's case due to privacy reasons.
'When the ATO has intelligence that a taxpayer's identity may be compromised, we activate stringent security measures to protect the taxpayer,' she said.
Australians lost more $2.7billion to scams in 2023 and over 600,000 scam reports were made according to a report by the ACCC.
Aussies have been affected by three main types of superannuation scams - fake super investment accounts, early access scams where people are tricked into making early withdrawals, and fraud, according to a consumer watchdog.
Aware Super CEO Jo Brennan said all super funds should have multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure the account is protected.
MFA is a security measure designed to protect users by asking them to provide two or more types of identity before they are given access to a website.
'Implementing MFA does result in some added complexity for members logging on but the benefits and risk mitigations significantly outweigh these cost,' she told Choice.
The hacker managed to gain access to Mr Wilcox's retirement savings by accessing his MyGov account
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The hacker managed to gain access to Mr Wilcox's retirement savings by accessing his MyGov account
Aussies are urged to protect themselves from super scams by checking their account balance regularly, using strong passwords and not dealing with unlicensed super fund managers.
Anyone who may have been targeted by someone, who is trying to access their super, should contact their superfund, Scamwatch or the ATO.
