A TikTok user has recounted the harrowing tale of losing thousands from her bank account after a single slip-up while vacationing in Zante.
Lydia Jasmine, known for her lifestyle and finance tips on the platform, opened up about the nightmare that saw her more than £12,000 out of pocket.
The unfortunate event unfolded in 2022, but Lydia reassured her followers that the issue had been sorted since then.
She warned: “If you’re due to go on a girls’ holiday or a lads’ holiday this summer, do not make the same mistake as me.”
Lydia’s misadventure began during a boat excursion in the buzzing hotspot of Zante, Crete.
She explained: “My bag was kept on me at all times. The only time I didn’t have my bag on me was when I went in the sea, but my friend was still on the boat, so she had it.”
After enjoying a dip in the sea, Lydia returned to find her belongings intact but her phone was mysteriously gone. She recounted: “They said they would search everyone when we got off the boat to try and find my phone, and they wouldn’t be left off unless they were searched.”
However, Lydia indicated that the searches weren’t thorough, leaving her phone unaccounted for. Yet, the missing phone wasn’t her primary worry, reports Birmingham Live.
She revealed: “My biggest mistake that holiday was putting my driving licence in the back of my phone. Now you’re probably thinking, ‘Oh, so what? They’ve only got your driving licence’.
“My birthday, which was on my driving licence in the back of my phone, was the password for my phone. And it was also the password to my online banking.”
Consequently, she immediately froze her bank cards only to return home and discover a bank transfer of £12,242 had been conducted to an unknown account. The money, she explained, was part of her ‘Help to Buy’ ISA which, once withdrawn, wouldn’t be possible to redeposit.
Lydia tried to lodge a police complaint at her local station but was advised to get in touch with Zante’s police force instead. She described the Zante police as “absolutely no help”, and neither were the boat tour organisers.
Lydia shared: “Because this person now has my phone, access to all of my [photo] gallery, all of my photos that were even on my phone ’cause my iCloud was on there. They have access to my online banking, they have my ID – I’ve had to open an identity fraud protection scheme.
“So now for the rest of my life, I am paying for a protection service against identity fraud ’cause this person could quite easily take out as many loans, mortgages, anything they like with my information.”
Upon tracking her iPhone through the Find My iPhone app, Lydia discovered its location to be in Birmingham. She stated: “We gave this to the police. They absolutely did not want to hear about it at all.”
She claimed the police advised against locating the phone themselves, as the force would not protect them. Lydia said: “The moral of the story is – do not put your ID in the back of your phone case. One, if you’re going on holiday, two, ever. And number two, don’t set your birthday as your password.”
In a follow-up video, Lydia explained she went through a lengthy process to resolve the matter and get her money back. After a failure to investigate, Lydia met with her bank on several occasions to change her security process, marking her account as ‘fraudulent’ – as well as a ‘fraudulent flag’ – and closing it.
Lydia explained she and her friends couldn’t find the phone, nor could the local police, because the perpetrators could’ve been “on the move” rather than in one location. She said: “For all we knew they could’ve been driving, they could’ve been walking, they could’ve planted the phone anywhere.”
She was advised to set up an identity protection scheme for future protection. Fortunately, she did receive her money back, but it took a while with several phone calls and meetings with her bank, and further investigations by police.
After being left with just 42p, Lydia received a £1,000 grant until the action was confirmed as fraudulent. She said: “If they assume it’s not fraud, you have to pay the money back. But in my situation it was and therefore I was then granted that, and given the rest of the money under the fraud protection.”