His electronic ID was stolen and used to defraud money

An unscrupulous thief took advantage of technology to defraud money after he stole a wallet from a car in Borgartún. He did so by going to a phone company, deleting electronic IDs and creating new electronic ID on a new phone number by using the stolen driver’s license from the wallet.

In the aftermath, he went to the owner's home bank and got the pin numbers and took 110 thousand ISK from a credit card as well as applying for a bank loan. Then he used his driving licence to defraud the store Húsasmiðjan for about half a million ISK when buying tools.

The bank fraud was accomplished in about 20 minutes. After that, a member of Hringdu staff realized that he had made a mistake and blocked the new electronic ID.

Wasn’t believed at first

Auðun Ingi Ásgeirsson, 32, an aircraft mechanic, was the one who was the victim in the theft this summer. “When I was in Borgartún in July, my car window was broken and my wallet was taken,” says Ásgeirsson.

On 18 July at 16.20 he received a notification that his electronic ID had been re-called. Five minutes later he received another notification by phone that a new electronic ID had been created at another phone number.

“In a text message that announced new IDs, the given phone number is Auðkenni. I called them, but they said they couldn’t do anything and the person who talked to me couldn’t really say anything. I don’t think he quite believed me, as I could hardly believe myself that someone was stealing my electronic IDs,” Ásgeirsson says.

In the meantime, he received a notification from Íslandsbanki that a new person had logged into the home bank, which he could not access because he did not have an electronic ID on his own account. In the aftermath, he called Íslandsbanki’s emergency number and was able to close all cards.

Catch 22: Needed his electronic ID to block his electronic ID!

“The next day, the security manager of Auðkenni called me and informed me that Hringdu’s employee had discovered his mistake and blocked the electronic ID. When I asked why Auðkenni’s employee couldn’t block my phone the day before, I got the answer that I had to use electronic ID to block the electronic ID,” Ásgeirsson says, as he laughs, thinking about the ridiculous situation he found himself in.

Received a call from Húsasmiðjan two months later

Before the electronic ID was revoked, the thief was able to take 110 thousand ISK from his credit card account, and he also applied for a loan from Arion Bank. The thief also borrowed tools from Húsasmiðjan for about ISK 500 thousand with the help of the ID.

“I got a call from Húsasmiðjan two months later, asking me when I was going to return their tools,” Ásgeirsson says, who naturally was stunned hearing about this.

It should be noted that the thief used only the driving licence to borrow the tools, not electronic ID.

Not compensated for damage

According to Auðunn, he has not been compensated for the damage. He has both been in communication with Hringdu and Auðkenni about the matter.

“In a post from Auðkenni, I heard that they’d be able to contact me very soon, but now it’s been two and a half months,” he says. A similar story is told of Hringdu, which was in contact with him for compensation, but he’s heard nothing yet.

Íslandsbanki does not consider itself liable to bear the losses.

“After all, what strikes me the most is how easy this seems to have been. When I also started thinking about it more, the person in question could have just reopened the home bank if Hringdu’s employee hadn’t realized the mistake and revoked the ID,” Ásgeirsson says.