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Woman who had her phone stolen on holiday warns against 'big mistake' that enabled thieves to drain more than £12,000 from her savings account
A young woman who had her phone stolen while holidaying in Zante has warned against using simple passwords after a thief was able to access her photos and online banking.
Gen Z-er Lydia Coates took to TikTok to share how her phone was stolen while holidaying with her friends, captioning the clip: 'How one simple mistake in Zante cost me over £10,000.'
In her video, Lydia warned: 'If you're planning to go on a girls or lads holiday this summer, do not make the same mistake as me!'
In 2022, the TikToker had planned a budget holiday with a friend to Zante in Greece. On the second day of the trip, the two planned to take a boat trip together.
Lydia packed a small bag for her phone, ID and cash and explains that she had it closely attached to her while on the boat.
During the boozy boat trip, Lydia claimed that her bag was kept on her 'at all times'.
'The only time I didn't have my bag on me was when I was in the sea, but my friend was still on the boat so she had it,' she said.
'When I got back from the sea I got my bag, which was still there, but my phone was gone.'
Since the boat trip was 'quite small' with around 50 or so people onboard, Lydia and her friend asked the DJ to ask the crowd if anyone had come across the missing phone.
Organisers of the trip then promised to check each individual before getting off the boat to see who had pocketed the device.
'I was sort of at peace because if someone stole it, they're gonna find it anyway,' she recalled.
However, she soon realised that she was wrong to assume organisers would take action.
Lydia Coates, pictured, had over £12,000 stolen after someone hacked into her phone using her password which was the same as her birthday
'Of course they didn't search everyone so my phone was gone!'
However, the missing phone was only the start of what became a very expensive holiday nightmare.
'My biggest mistake that holiday was putting my driving licence in the back on my phone,' she explained.
'My birthday, on my driving licence in the back of my phone, was my password and was also the password to my online banking.'
Realising the fatal error, Lydia 'frantically' checked her bank account to see if there had been any withdrawals taken and was relieved to see that nothing had been moved while the phone was stolen.
Comfortable that her cash was safe, Lydia said she 'just forgot' about the incident and went on using her friend's mobile for the duration of the trip.
However, her luck was not to last.
'Lo and behold when I got home, I checked my mobile banking and a singular bank transfer of £12,242 had been sent to someone called Jessica,' she said.
The stolen cash had come from Lydia's help-to-buy ISA, meaning that years worth of savings were lost.
Devastated, Lydia contacted the police who told her to contact Zante police, where the theft had occurred.
Lydia was thankfully able to get her money back, but the individual who took the money got away scot free
'When I contacted Zante police, they were absolutely no help,' she explained.
'Because this person had access to my phone, all of my gallery and all the photos that were ever on my phone, my online banking, my ID, I have had to open a identity fraud protection scheme.
'So now, for the rest of my life I am paying for protection against identity fraud because this person could take out as many loans, mortgages with my information.'
'The moral of the story is do not put your ID in the back of your phone case if you're going on holiday - or ever!'
In a later video, Lydia explained that she resolved the issue by changing all of her bank details and signing her former account off as 'fraudulent'.
After a number of meetings with banks and police, thankfully Lydia was able to retrieve the £12,242 that had been stolen from her.
'We assumed we could find the person who stole the money on Facebook from their name but they had given a fake name.
'It was not this person's first time robbing a bank or someone's details.
'This specific name was a name that had been used across multiple fraud sites as a fake name, so the real perpetrators weren't identified.
The phone was identified as being at a location in Birmingham via an app but she was urged not to track it down.
'In my case, they got away with it, they got the money because I got the money back from the fraud protection and not from the person themselves.'
The money was reimbursed thanks to her fraud protection scheme.
Lydia's unfortunate encounter isn't the first and likely won't be the last, as it comes amid a surge in cases on phone theft in the UK.
The capital has been particularly badly hit with some calling it the 'London epidemic' as more and more cases sweep through the city.
The City of London Police said it is running a targeted operation that is disrupting phone snatching in the Square Mile.
The operation was started due to the worrying rise the force saw in phone snatching in 2022, which carried on into last and this year.
The force is even spraying criminals and their mopeds with a DNA spray in a bid to link them to crimes if they race away.
The force advised people to remain vigilant in crowded areas and on the transport network and asked anyone who falls victim of a mobile phone robbery to contact the police straight away.