A teenage boy in Sydney has admitted using information obtained through an Optus data breach to blackmail almost 100 customers into giving him thousands of dollars. Dennis So, 19, appeared at the Sydney Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, admitting to using data stolen in the Optus breach to ask vulnerable customers for cash.
The Rockdale man sent text messages to 93 Optus customers whose data was stolen during the September cyberattack and then exposed by hackers online.
Between September 24 and October 6, Su threatened to use customers’ personal information to commit financial crimes if they refused to pay $2000 into her bank account. None of the compromised Optus customers paid the blackmail fees. Police laid the charges after it emerged the teenager owned the bank accounts linked to the fraud.