Data Theft and other frauds from business and consumers

Marcella Hanania & Saba (Sam) Hanania rip off Mongolian Family

2021-06-26T14:19:00.008+10:00

Marcella and Saba (Sam) Hanania

In one of their latest scams Marcella and Saba Hanania targeted a Mongolian Family stuck in Australia due to COVID.

The family including two brothers and the wife of one needed to work to survive in Australia particularly after having a baby. They originally travelled to Australia for a holiday however as mentioned found themselves stranded in Aus due to COVID restrictions.

In order to work for the Hanania's they required a vehicle different to the one they already owned. Saba Hanania encouraged them to sell their vehicle and buy one of the Hanania's Ford Rangers. The Ford Ranger was knowingly sold with debt without informing the family who, being new to Australia did not know about buyer responsibility to check the vehicle was unemcumbered. They worked for the Hanania's for a period until it came time to be paid. The Hanania's didn’t pay them and cut off all communication. The finance company is now about to repo the Ford Ranger.

Process servers are constantly told by Marcella Hanania Saba (also know as Sam or Simon) hasn’t lived at their Belfield NSW home for over two years and she doesn’t know where he is. This is a lie. There are recently taken photographs and transactional data proving he still resides in the family home. The Hanania's use surveilance cameras covering all entrances to the home to vet who they will or won't answer their door to.

Saba Hanania (El-Hanania) is a bankrupted unregistered lawyer whose firm "Saba Lawyers" was put under management by the NSW Law Society. The Hanania file contains copies of forged documents and signatures used to steal monies from his Law Firms trust account. The monies stolen were used to buy expensive vehicles and car trailers, take overseas holidays, do home renovations and much more.

Ex employees of the Hanania's have also reported seeing large stacks of cash in a safe at the Belfield NSW home where they continue to operate a car transport business scamming drivers and car owners (taking money up front then not showing up to pick up vehicles).

The Hanania's recently removed the following Facebook Profiles after being outed for ripping off car owners: Marcella Hanania, Claudia Han, Sam Hanania, Simon Claud, Simon H and Prestige - Car Transport. There are likely other aliases on Facebook and they continue to use their Prestige Car Transport, RMC Transport websites and Google listings to rip off car owners.

They use false company information, including the address, annual turnover and employee numbers listed on Dun & Bradstreet to help legitimise their business. The company listed on D&B is Prestige Car Transport Pty Ltd - https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.prestige_-_car_transport_pty_ltd.efd2abd2537b57ecb76c1bf87da8dae7.html

Their websites include: https://prestige-cartransport.com.au and http://rmctransport.com.au

Reports have been made to Police by many victims however todate nothing has been done to stop these frauds ripping off drivers and car owners all over Australia.

If you have been ripped off by Marcella and/or Saba Hanania report it immediately to Police.

Saba "Sam" Hanania the Victim Farmer

2020-12-11T05:34:00.015+11:00

Saba Hanania uses his brothers ID & head shot to continue his rip offs on Facebook

There is a particular type of fraud that remains popular and is used effectively to steal money from unsuspecting victims with little to no chance of getting your money back or the perpetrator being arrested. You may of heard of Pharming which are cyber scams more often using malware designed to get your personal details including passwords and other identity details. You can learn more about Pharming by going to this link.

Pharming can also use the more traditional methods of obtaining monies through deception. For instance a perpetrator may set up a website or landing page then use Google Adwords to attract potential victims to the site. Other instances include setting up Facebook Pages and or Fake Profiles. Facebook, E'bay, Amazon, Gumtree and almost every site where you can buy goods or services has their fair share of scammers. And there are many methods they will use to attract you to a product or service which they have no intention of delivering or providing after you've parted with your hard earned.

In this article we are going to focus on one particular individual now in the car transport industry by the name of Saba Hanania, a bankrupted ex lawyer, who perfected the art of farming for victims in the legal profession. We haven't seen this person on any of the Current Affair type shows yet however he has had two write ups in The Australian Newspaper so he does have a modicum of infamy.

There are a range of reasons to use an alias however it is usually an author, actor, singer or somebody wanting anonymity to help keep their personal life out of the spotlight. Car Transport is not likely an industry where business owners and drivers would be seeking that type on anonymity. That is unless there is a motive. An operator who sets up a number of business names, companies and aliases is very likely one that you would want to avoid or at the very least research before engaging them to transport your car. There are of course the big operators in transport who will acquire businesses as part of their growth strategy however not the smaller players delivering a few cars a week.

The Law Farm

Saba Hanania is a bankrupted unregistered lawyer whose company, Saba Lawyers, was put under management by the NSW Law Society. Hanania used Google Adwords and landing pages to farm for victims. Individual landing pages would feature specific topics 'Expert Criminal Lawyer', 'Expert on Deceased Estates' and 'Expert Compensation Lawyer' to name some.

One of Hanania's most egregious acts was as an expert compensation lawyer. He stole over $300,000.00 from compensation awarded to a seriously injured truck driver. The funds were removed by Hanania from the law firms trust account without the permission of the trucky. Hanania forged signatures on permission correspondence to withdraw monies from the Law Firm Trust account. Five years on and 9 judgements in the truckies favour, he is yet to see any of the stolen money or the awarded costs. It is estimated Hanania owes the trucky in excess of $450,000.00.

As an expert criminal lawyer, he would have defendants pay funds into the firms trust account up front. Hanania would then not turn up to court leaving defendants out of pocket and with no representation. And as an expert deceased estate lawyer he was paid $30,000.00 to sort out a $1.3M estate for a woman in the UK. What she didn't know was that he was touring Europe and the US at the time then returned to Australia and promptly went skiing on her dime. Nothing was done on the case apart from it being passed around the Saba Law Firm. Constant enquiries by the client were ignored. The money paid had been used up on Hanania's holiday and she lost all entitlements to the estate.

There are many more individual instances of fraud by Hanania, some still before the courts. If the NSW Law Society acted on the very first complaint about Hanania the incredible amount of financial ruin and suffering caused by his appalling behaviour could have been avoided. Victims are hoping to get some compensation from the NSW Law Society Fidelity Fund. Claims against the fund closed on July 3rd, 2020 and at time of writing the NSW Law Society had not been heard from since.

Alias Sam Hanania over tow weight for a Ford Raptor by over 2 Ton.

Farming a New Crop - Hanania pivots to Car Transport

Saba Hanania, Sam Hanania, Simon Hanania, Simon H and Simon Claude are one and the same. Saba Hanania has been using his brother identity (Sam Hanania) to rip off car owners and professional drivers on Facebook for the past 12 months. They're maybe other aliases we are not aware of. Hanania's Businesses include RMC Transport, MC Car Transport, Race My Car and Prestige Car Transport. Like the aliases there may be others. Each of the businesses have website landing pages and Facebook Pages. Each of the aliases have fake Facebook Profiles. Google Adwords and Facebook Groups are used to Farm for victims.

The Hanania Modus Operandi (MO)

Planting the seed. Using Google Adwords to drive traffic to landing pages and aliases strategically posting in various Facebook car groups Hanania attracts car owners requiring their vehicles transported. Hanania quotes the job, gets payment up front and in some cases does the job. According to some user comments he does it relatively well although there have been some horror stories around damage to vehicles and very late on pick up and delivery. There have also been stolen vehicle reports made to Police. Hanania has explained these off as a "misunderstanding" and the car turns up delivered by another carrier. Negative comments are quickly deleted from Hanania's various pages. Leaving this all aside we'll focus on the scam.

The No Show Scam

As we are all aware chasing down any amount of money less than about $10k in Australia is a complete waste of time, energy and resources. Even if you win and costs are awarded you still have to get the money. Ex lawyer Hanania knows this all too well.

So you have landed on a Hanania page or website via a Google search or a post on Facebook. Contact is made, you've agreed the quote, paid the money and you are now waiting for your car to be picked up and delivered to the agreed destination. There has even been a few txt's exchanged confirming ETA and some pleasantries, all is good.

Pick up time arrives, pick up time passes, waiting, waiting, waiting, better txt my new mate Sam, Simon or Saba and see where he has got too. No reply. Better ring, goes to voicemail. Try again and again and again, no response!! You go to the website, fill out a form, you go to his facebook page and message him . . . . no response. Unbeknown to you he has blocked your number. You realise you've been dudded. What you didn't know is a better job landed and when that happens your job ends up a no show.

The seed was planted, the crop brought in a tidy sum however not enough to go to court over. You can go to Police and make a report. They'll likely tell you it's a commercial matter. Don't feel too bad, you weren't the first nor will you be the last. According to posts about Hanania on Facebook no-shows are a regular occurrence. Just this past week alone over $6000.00 in no-shows and no contact were reported on Facebook. Hanania is an expert at fraud with incidences going right back to the early 2000's.

Follow The Money

Where did the money fraudulently taken from the Saba Lawyers trust account go? For a bankrupted unregistered lawyer Hanania has accumulated a lot of transport kit all of which is parked at his home in Belfield where, when visited by authorities wanting to serve documents, he apparently doesn't live any more. Parked in the garage in Belfield is also a $200k Lotus Race car and a very rare Ducati apparently valued at over $150k. Hanania has boasted in texts he owns a stable of over $2M in cars and bikes. All assets are now in wife Marcella's name. Marcella recently advertised a Ducati part on Gumtree. Previous sales on Gumtree by Marcella include a 6hp petrol compressor. Hanania has recently ordered another new Ford Ranger from Heartland Ford in Greenacre valued at over $56k. Not bad for a bankrupt.

The client money stolen from the Law Firms Trust account had to go to another account and may have even been distributed to more accounts. It doesn't come out in cash. The fact is there is a money trail and we are not talking small change here. All the Hanania assets are now in the wife's name. Where did she get the money from to accumulate all these assets? Tax records would reveal her income. There is a file on record at the NSW Law Society full of victim statements, forged documents and signatures.

In NSW concealing a serious indictable offence falls under SECT 316 of the CRIMES ACT 1900. According to (1) of this Act, if a person knows or believes another person has committed a serious indictable offence and has information which might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension of the offender or the prosecution or conviction of the offender for it fails without reasonable excuse to report it to the police or other appropriate authority, that other person is liable to imprisonment for 2 years.

Are the people handling the Hanania case at the NSW Law Society immune from prosecution under the ACT? Why don't NSW Police request a copy of the file? There are enough incidents on the Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS) database to at least raise a red flag.

With all that is known about Saba Hanania you would think there would be some interest from authorities in investigating him. If you walked into the local Woollies and got caught stealing a $5.00 chocolate you'd be charged with shop lifting. Under the Australian Consumer Law, businesses must not accept payment for products or services if they do not intend to supply them. The ACCC have a bit of a bark but they have no teeth and frankly aren't interested. They will advise you to take legal action. NSW Fair Trading aren't interested, to them its a commercial matter so don't waste your time there.

If you have been dudded by this bloke or you know anybody who has report it immediately to Police. Contact us to get his "correct" contact details. At least this does get the incident onto the COPS database.

Roselyn Singh - (Simran Singh) Fraudulent Claim for over $45Million

2020-08-14T17:18:00.025+10:00

From left: Simran "Roselyn" Singh - Dr Mirza Baig - John Frisken

Roselyn Singh (alias Simran Singh) attempted to defraud the NSW Govt of over $45Million. Justice Pepper was scathing of Singh when handing down her Principal judgment. Singh used the alias "Simran Singh" in her fraudulant claim. Roselyn Singh is listed with ASIC under at least 7 different names, dates and places of birth. Singh also claims to have a PhD, MBA, and B.Coms (hons) however her claims to these tertiary qualifications have proven to be false.

In late 2016, Sydney Metro served a proposed acquisition notice on Roselyn Singh alias Simran Singh and Dr Mirza Baig's business, UTSG Pty Ltd (“UTSG”) in respect of its leasehold interest in premises located at Vhealth Plus 40 Park Street, Sydney, for the purposes of construction of the Sydney Metro – City and South West Project.

Sydney Metro had already acquired the freehold interest in the Park Street property, and advised UTSG they required vacant possession of the property by April 2017 and that rent remained payable for occupation of the premises. Singh and her business partner Dr Baig refused to pay rent and submitted a claim for compensation.

The following is extracted directly from Justice Rachel Pepper's Principal Judgement on the compensation claim:

UTSG repeatedly failed to comply with directions of the Court, which had the result of delaying the commencement of the final hearing and resulted in unnecessary expenditure by Sydney Metro. For example, the Court found in August 2018 that the length and volume of interlocutory applications in the proceedings were “characterised by UTSG’s continual default and non-compliance with court orders” (UTSG Pty Ltd v Sydney Metro [2018] NSWLEC 128 at [34]). The dates originally listed for hearing in August 2018 were vacated because Mr Mullins withdrew his expert report and that “the withdrawal of his expert opinion was caused by the failure of UTSG to properly instruct and brief Mr Mullins” (UTSG at [54]). UTSG also repeatedly failed to comply with its obligation to produce documents (UTSG Pty Ltd v Sydney Metro (No 2) [2018] NSWLEC 199 at [25]-[38]). This continued through the proceedings (UTSG Pty Ltd v Sydney Metro (No 5) [2019] NSWLEC 107 at [15]);

The amount of compensation determined by the VG and offered to UTSG, namely, $2,136,834, was not only premised on the misleading financial information contained in the Goodyer report, it was manifestly excessive in light of the evidence now before the Court. It was not in any event accepted by UTSG. UTSG expressly declined to accept compensation in this sum at various times during the hearing;

UTSG’s claim for compensation continually changed resulting in wasted costs for Sydney Metro as claims were abandoned and added. The initial quantification of its claim for compensation in its points of claim filed on 10 May 2018 was approximately $19 million for relocation, or in the alternative, $48 million for extinguishment. During the hearing it abandoned its claim for business extinguishment. By the time it made its closing address on 13 December 2019 its claim was in excess of $45 million for relocation. Such conduct was unreasonable.

The various amounts of compensation claimed by UTSG were never supported by credible reliable evidence. At all stages of the proceedings the amount of compensation claimed by UTSG was completely untenable.

Undeterred by a paucity of evidence, and in the face of cogent and detailed lay and expert evidence adduced by Sydney Metro, UTSG continued to maintain its position throughout the proceedings.

As detailed in this judgment, Ms Singh sought to advance UTSG’s claim for compensation by relying on fraudulent and doctored documents, by inventing fictitious entities, and by lying about important matters both in her written and oral evidence.

UTSG attempted to rely on evidence that was unfairly prejudicial to Sydney Metro or caused costs to be wasted insofar as the evidence was either served late (such as the additional material served by UTSG on the first day of the hearing, the report from Njoro & Associates concerning the Business Sale Agreement attached to a supplementary report of Mr Watts dated 1 April 2019, or the material that UTSG sought to tender after its case had closed on the third last day of the hearing (Ex F: T1257:24-26)), was withdrawn by UTSG (such as the evidence of Mr John Frisken, Mr Hollins and Mr Dunn), or the relevant witnesses were not available for cross-examination (for example, Mr Allsopp, Dr Shakoor and Mr Fahad).

The scandalous and baseless accusations UTSG continually made throughout the hearing impugning the character and integrity of the legal representatives of Sydney Metro.

On any view, the conduct of the litigation was unreasonable and improper. Ms Singh was largely responsible for UTSG persistently failing to comply with Court orders which caused repeated delay and unnecessary costs, she fabricated documents (the Business Sale Agreement and the doctored email,) and other evidence, (the existence of entities such as LPAA, Cara Adams, Jessica Cheung and TaxSavvy), and gave evidence that she knew to be false both in her affidavits and orally.

Ms Simran Roselyn Singh (also known as Ms Roselyn Singh) is jointly and severally liable to pay the respondent’s costs of the proceedings.

Will Singh now be investigated for this attempted fraud on NSW Tax Payers? We'll keep you posted.

Link to the Principal Judgement.

A summary of the Judgement by Mathews Folbigg Lawyers

If you have a story about 'Roselyn Singh' (or Simran Singh) use the "submit your story" at the top of this page.

False Allegations by "Roselyn Singh" Ends Up With A High Court Ruling Against NSW Police
Singh and Frisken made false accusations including providing doctored evidence causing an arrest which ended in the High Court. Todate Singh has not been investigated by NSW Police for making False accusations - a criminal offence / 7 years Jail.

The Roselyn Singh File - One of Sydney's most prolific fraudsters.

MC Car Transport - buyer beware!

2020-07-06T19:36:00.003+10:00

After being outed in The Australian for ripping off his 'Saba Lawyer' clients Saba El-Hanania started a car transport business using funds he had stolen to purchase a fleet of car trailers and SUV's. Advertising in Facebook and Google Adwords Hanania uses a number of aliases including 'Simon Claude', 'Simon Hanania' and 'Saba Hanania' to attract car owners to his car transport businesses.

His first car transport business traded as 'RMC Transport' however after many posts and bad reviews from ripped off car owners Hanania launched a new business 'MC Car Transport' (mccartransport.com.au). The pic below shows both his RMC Transport and MC Car Transport businesses, identical except for the business name and URL's.

Saba Hanania's MO is to quote for car transport jobs, get paid up front then no-show. Car owners are left with attempting to contact Hanania however he blocks all disgruntled callers. Chasing him via the courts is expensive and likely a waste of time and money. Saba El-Hanania already has judgements against him for 100's of thousands, none of which have been paid.

His fleet of vehicles are registered in his wifes name and his many assets including the Family Home, Prestige Cars and Collectible Motor Bikes are not in his name. The Bisbane address advertised on his websites and advertising is a virtual address used to avoid Process Servers and Police. Hanania operates from the family home in Belfield NSW however callers are advised he no longer resides there and his address is unknown.

If you have been ripped off by Saba El-Hanania or any of his aliases report it immediately to Police and get an event number. If you have a story about El-Hanania send it to us via the Send us Your Story link in the navbar above.

Saba El-Hanania Lawyers Fidelity Fund - Current notices | The Law Society of NSW

2020-05-19T16:15:00.001+10:00

If you have a claim against Saba Hanania, Saba Lawyers or Saba El Hanania you will need to contact OLSC before July 3, 2020. Follow this link: Fidelity Fund - Current notices | The Law Society of NSW

False Allegations made by Roselyn Singh Ends Up With A High Court Ruling Against NSW Police

2020-05-02T15:54:00.005+10:00

Police cannot arrest individuals without intending to charge them, High Court rules following false allegations made by Roselyn Singh to NSW Police.

"Some" NSW Police are either very lazy or are just plain incompetent and there is a lot more to this story than indicated in the High Court Ruling article link below.

When a known fraud, already with a very similar complaint against them for making false allegations causing an investigation of a local doctor can walk into the very same Police Command and make another set of false allegations causing an investigation and the issuing of an AVO and the matter ends up in the highest court in Australia you know our system of law is very broken.

There are very many similar cases of falsely obtained DVO/AVO's, usually sort by women in the family court. In this case an AVO sort on false evidence was an attempt to stop articles appearing all over social media and other press about a fraud by the name of Roselyn Singh.

Roselyn Singh's false accusations to Police end up in the High Court

There are literally pages of content about this fraud by various writers and publishers including Datatheft.

The constable who took the complaint from Singh did not bother to check the "NO ID CALLS" she showed as evidence of harassment, the email address (or the IP address) she set up and used to send herself harassing emails, the times and dates given as evidence of harassment or to even check a previous fraud report she was alerted to that was with detectives in her own command.

In that report was the very same email address and stolen identity Singh had set up to make false allegations against a Sydney doctor. A cursory glance at that report would have at least raised a red flag. A simple phone call to the detective handling the identity theft case against Singh could have avoided the huge expense of this absolute farce ending up in the High Court.

A check on the private calls - origin phone number, which Police have "immediate" access to would have at the very least raised some suspicion to the veracity of Roselyn Singh's false claims. Aided by business partner John Frisken (also a 'person of interest' in the report mentioned above) and elephant tears while giving her false statement Singh was able to get a Police issued AVO. Singh then provided false evidence to show a breach of the AVO and succeeded in getting her victim arrested and charged.

In the evidence that set off a series of court cases all the way to the High Court Singh had claimed she received phone calls and an email however it went into her junk folder. She said she found it after being alerted to it by one of her employees. Police naturally asked her to produce this email. She didn't, because she couldn't, there was no email sent to her for it to land in the junk mail in the first instance yet Police continued to pursue a conviction. And again Police did not check the origin number of the harassing calls on a private number she claimed to receive in breach of the AVO. On Singh's word they proceeded with an arrest with absolutely no validated evidence.

Police also lied in the courts when indicating Singh's victim had said he was interstate. Upon ringing Police after a neighbour had alerted him Police were looking for him he stated, to the "woman" constable who he was put through to when asked where he was, "I am camping with my family at Calmsley Hill City Farm" to which came the reply, "come to the Day Street Police Station immediately or we'll send Police to arrest you". He arrived at Day Street Police Station at around 5pm that afternoon.

Remember these actions, including being previously arrested at his home at 8am on Bathurst race day by three squad cars and 6 uniformed Police were done on the insistence of a Senior Police officer without a single shred of validated evidence. The 6 uniformed Police knocked on every door in his block of units asking for him by name before knocking on his door! Why?

Is our legal system broken or do we just have a whole bunch of very incompetent power hungry self serving wallopers keen to get a few notches on their belt. This whole mess started because a woman constable "refused" to check the validity of serious accusations made by a known fraud. How do we know she "refused" to look more closely?

A complaint about the matter was made directly with the Police Commissioner. The matter should then have been independently considered however that didn't happen. The matter was handed back to the very same constable who took the false complaint from Singh. She then rang the victim of Singh's false claims and told him she was proceeding with the complaint. When asked was she going to at least look at the fraud report that had been with Detectives for over 6 months about Singh's false allegations against the Sydney doctor using a stolen identity, she said "no" and hung up.

Who paid for this injustice to reach the High Court? You the tax payer!!

Is Singh going to be investigated for making false claims causing an investigation? At time of publishing the answer is a resounding "No". There has been no response to any communications with Sydney City PAC about Singh.

Writing to the NSW Police Commissioner to seek an explanation as to why a false allegation case that reached the High Court does not require at the very least an investigation into Singh's role in the matter and why there was no "independant enquiry" following a complaint about the constable instigating an AVO on totally unveriffed evidence that turned out to be absolutely false . . . . . . is a complete waste of time!!

Singh has been ripping off small business owners for years, has numerous complaints against her with ASIC and NSW Health yet it appears she remains completely immune to any form of investigation. The investigation by Sydney Detectives about her false accusations against a Sydney Doctor didn't even make it out of the filing cabinet. The Detective in charge retired and so apparently did the file.

The High Court Ruling on This Case can be found here: Police Cannot Arrest Individuals Without Intending to Charge Them, High Court Rules

It appears Dr Roslyn Singh PhD, MBA, B.Coms (hons) - false credentials has some kind of immunity from investigation let alone prosecution by any authority. One day we'll find out why!!

"A person who makes an accusation intending a person to be the subject of an investigation of an offence, knowing that other person to be innocent of the offence, is liable to imprisonment for 7 years."

Roselyn Singh has lifted her fraud game to new heights. With business partners Dr Mirza Salman Baig and John Frisken Singh attempted to rip off the NSW Govt. for over $45,000,000.00. Read more here

If you have a story about Roselyn Singh or any of her many alias's and company's contact us via the submit your story link above.

The Roselyn Singh File

Unregistered lawyer Saba Hanania owes us thousands, say ‘victims’

2020-03-25T13:37:00.001+11:00

Accident victim Alon Vella on his property in Castlereagh on the outskirts of Sydney. Picture: Britta Campion

NICOLA BERKOVIC
The Australian

A father of four who was seriously injured in a truck accident is one of at least eight people who say they’ve been ripped off by a Sydney lawyer and are angry at the lack of response from regulators.

Alon Vella accepted a $900,000 payout after he was seriously injured in a truck accident in 2006. The money was meant to help him support his family, but instead he received just $500,000 and is still fighting his lawyer — Saba El-Hanania — for the rest.

The payout money landed in Mr El-Hanania’s trust account in about October 2015. Mr El-Hanania finally gave Mr Vella an itemised bill in September 2016 — for $295,000 in legal fees, including 500 hours of his own time, plus another $180,000 in disbursements.

An independent cost assessor determined that the legal fees were worth just $44,000.

In 2018, Mr El-Hanania agreed he owed Mr Vella $213,000. But, despite at least eight judgments in four different courts, Mr Vella is still chasing his money — a process he said had been even more stressful than the accident.

Mr Vella said he first complained to the NSW Law Society and the Legal Services Commissioner in late 2015. In February, the NSW Law Society finally appointed a manager to Mr El-Hanania’s legal practice. But those owed money say it’s too little, too late.

Saba Hanania also runs a car transport business "RMC Transport".

Read more here

Lawyer Saba Hanania Enjoying The Fruits of His Ripp Offs

2020-02-20T12:36:00.001+11:00

Lawyer Saba Hanania, owner of Saba Lawyers and RMC Motorsport Pty Ltd t/a RMC Transport is no stranger to good times on his victims money.

Hanania's Law Firm Saba Lawyers is now under Law Society management due to serious breaches including fraud.

Saba Hanania's Law Firm - Saba Lawyers

Direct Link to OLSC: https://tinyurl.com/OLSC-Saba-ElHanania

Hanania's RMC Transport up and down Facebook Page is a testimont to his frivolous regard to the truth and his total disregard for Court issued Judgements. Hanania claims to be broke, separated from his wife Marcella and says he is no longer living at his Belfield home. The following screenshot, taken Feb 20, 2020 from his RMC Transport FB Page, clearly indicates he is working from the address he says he no longer lives at. Ex employees also vouch for the fact he still lives in the home with his wife and two sons.

Hanania Operaes His Business From His Home Address in Belfield

UPDATE Feb 21, 2020: RMC Transport now advertise this business address: Level 8/757 Ann Street Fortitude Valley QLD 4006. Hanania uses the virtual office feature offered by Corporate House. They take redirected calls from his Mobile and send enquiry to Hanania via email. The actual business does not operate from Fortitude Valley. More Info: 07 3667 8800.

The RMC Transport Face Book page re-emerged after Hanania removed all the bad reviews from customers he has ripped off. Hanania bans clients from commenting on posts and has removed any ability to review his business.

The following montage of photos taken from his RMC Transport Face Book page indicates pretty clearly that this fraudster is living large whilst creditors and victims rely on the Law Society, our Courts and Government Departments like Fair Trading / Consumer Affairs to hopefully put a stop to his duplicitous conduct. Don't hold your breath!!

A complaint to Fair Trading about not paying a casual employee went absolutely no where. All Hanania had to do was lie and the whole matter was buried and left for the victim to try and get his hard earned. Another ex-employee is still trying to get over $30,000.00 owed to her from over two years ago and inspite of judgements in her favour has had no joy. She joins the many other victims who also have judgements against him trying to get their money.

At The Track in His $400,000.00 Lotus Race Car

Hanania Orders a New Truck For RMC Transport

Hanania Adding More Vehicles to His Fleet

Police Report Event Numbers related to Saba Hanania

A Sydney Law firm is co-ordinating all fraudulant complaints made to Police related to Saba Hanania, RMC Transport and Saba Lawyers. Contact us via FB Messenger or our form and we will connect you with the law firm. Please note only contact us after you have reported your incident with Saba Hanania, RMC Transport or Saba Lawyers and have a Police Event Number.

More Information about RMC Transport and Saba Hanania

Hanania Uses Google Adwords to Get His Next Victim

Car Transporter RMC Transport - Scammers

Car Transport Consumer Alert - RMC Transport

Sydney to Melbourne Overnight | Car Transport Service Pick Up‎

2020-02-11T17:35:00.001+11:00

Have you been ripped off by RMC Transport? Report it to Police.

HAVE YOU BEEN RIPPED OFF BY SABA HANANIA?

Sydney car transport business "RMC Transport" have been reported for demanding money up front then not turning up to pick up vehicles. The image above is one of their Google Adwords placements. The owner of the business Saba Hanania and RMC Transport should be avoided.

Their advertised phone numbers are: 0407 190 190 and 1800 984 178.

Report it to Police

If you have paid these guys to transport your vehicle and they haven't showed up, report it immediately to your local Police Station and get an event number. You may be told its a commercial or civil matter however insist on reporting it anyway. Important: Get the event number!

We have spoken to Police and have been advised this is the best course of action to have these matters esculated to the Police Fraud Squad. In addition let Hanania know you are reporting him. We know of one person who got their money back after he contacted Hanania to let him know he was going report him to the Police.

For more information about RMC Transport and owner Saba Hanania go here!

Car Transport Company "RMC Transport"

2020-02-06T14:56:00.005+11:00

Been ripped off by RMC Transport? Report Immediately to Police!!

Are you a victim of Car Transport business RMC Transport or the business owner Saba Hanania?

If you have paid these guys to transport your vehicle and they haven't showed up, report it immediately to your local Police Station and get an event number. You may be told its a commercial or civil matter however insist on reporting it anyway. Important: Get the event number!

We have spoken to Police and been advised this is the best course of action to have these matters esculated to the Police Fraud Squad.

Have you been ripped off by Saba Lawyers?

Similar to his transport business, Saba Hanania takes money up front to handle legal cases then doesn't turn up at court.

Again report this to Police immediately and get an event number. Police may advise this again is a civil matter however ask them to take the report anyway. Important: Get the event number!

Saba Hanania has taken down his RMC Transport Facebook page after receiving bad reviews and being exposed as a fraud. He uses Google Adwords now to suck in his victims.

This is Hanania's most recent Google Ad

Ad www.rmcmotorsport.com.au 0407 190 190
This weekend car transport | Door to door one spot left‎
Call rmc today to book your spot. www.rmctransport.com.au.Personal service constant communication of your investment. Door to door service. personalized service. 30 years won't be beaten on service.

Police Report Event Numbers related to Saba Hanania

A Sydney Law firm is co-ordinating all fraudulant complaints made to Police related to Saba Hanania, RMC Transport and Saba Lawyers. Contact us via FB Messenger and we will connect you with the law firm. Please note only contact us after you have reported your incident with Saba Hanania, RMC Transport or Saba Lawyers and have a Police Event Number.

You can also go to the Victims of RMC Transport Facebook Page to post a complaint or contact us.

More Information about RMC Transport and Saba Hanania

"The RMC Transport - Scammers" Facebook Page

Car Transporter RMC Transport - Scammers

Car Transport Consumer Alert - RMC Transport

Car Transport Consumer Alert - RMC Transport

2020-01-11T12:37:00.001+11:00

RMC Transport A Car Transport Company To Avoid

Car Transport business RMC Transport and its owner Saba Hanania have been reported to RMS NSW for consistantly towing vehicles in excess of the allowable tow weight for their tow vehicles. Apart from the danger to other road users RMC Transport are breaching their obligations under their Transit and Comprehensive Insurance policies in addition to breaches to the third party cover (Green Slip). It is likely Hanania would not be covered in the event of an accident.

Hanania has already been reported to Fair Trading for not paying drivers and has complaints against him for accepting payment to transport vehicles and then no-showing - read more here.

RMC TRANSPORT - A DANGER TO OTHER ROAD USERS

In pics below, taken from RMC Transport Facebook page, Hanania's towing weight is from 500kg to nearly a Ton over the allowable tow weight for the Ford Ranger he uses to transport vehicles (also in the pics).

Hanania often brags about his driving hours "one more to go probably finish around midnight tonight from a 5am start" and "That concludes a long 16 hour day until tomorrow" - two extracts from RMC Transport's Facebook Page.

Apart from the obvious danger from towing well above a vehicles allowable tow weight Hanania is also driving well over National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR - Fatigue Management Standard Hours) permitted driving hours for professional drivers adding to the danger for other road users including himself. He is well over the GCM of 5 ton however drives a car and trailer so is able to ignore the regulations.

RMC Transport 1000kg Over Allowable Tow Weight

RMC Transport 500kg Over Allowable Tow Weight

RMC Transport 500kgs Over Allowable Tow Weight

Well Over NHVR Standard Driving Hours (Max 12)

If you have an unresolved dispute with RMC Transport it is recommended you contact Consumer Affairs in your State. You will need the following information for your complaint:
RMC Motorsport Pty Ltd ABN 46 633 771 534 t/a RMC Transport
2 Blanche Street
Belfield NSW 2191
Tel: 0407 190 190
Website: rmcmotorsport.com.au/prestige-transport

More about RMC Transport and Sabab Hanania

If you have a story about RMC Transport, contact us.

More Information about RMC Transport and Saba Hanania

Hanania Uses Google Adwords to Get His Next Victim

Car Transporter RMC Transport - Scammers

Car Transporter RMC Transport - Scammers

2019-12-02T16:50:00.001+11:00

Saba Hanania (El-Hanania) of RMC Transport in Belfield, NSW (Sydney) has been reported to Fair Trading for various fraudulent activities including underpayment of drivers and taking money then no showing to transport vehicles.

Saba Hanania is also a lawyer and owner of Saba Lawyers.

MONEY FOR NOTHING & YOUR DELIVERIES FOR FREE

After receiving the deposit and arranging to transport a vehicle from Adelaide to Brisbane Saba Hanania was a no show leaving the vehicle owner with having to quickly organise an alternative. Her furniture had already been picked up by removalists and she was booked on a flight to Brisbane that same morning.

In another case a couple had traveled over 4 hours to meet Saba Hanania to help co-ordinate the pick up of a very expensive classic car. Saba Hanania was a no show and after three hours of attempting to contact him they gave up and returned home.

These are just two examples of how this car transporter treats clients. If you have prepaid for a job and a better opportunity for Saba Hanania coincides with your job he'll drop you like a hot cake and offer some lame excuse. The Bush Fires is one of his recent favourites and good luck chasing him for a refund (click pic below).

Facebook Review by a person ripped off by Hanania

Hanania's fraudulent activites don't just involve businesses and clients he owes money for services or goods purchased and refunds for jobs not done there is also the matter of not paying drivers he has engaged to deliver vehicles for RMC Transport. Exploiting individuals for their labor knowing they have limited financial resources for redress fits right into the slavery bucket.

Saba Hanania's customer service practice for dealing with disgruntled clients, businesses and ex drivers is to block their number and ignore all contact. As mentioned earlier Saba Hanania is also a lawyer so getting refunded or paid will be challenging.

Lawyer Client Confidentiality - Betrayed by Hanania

Saba Lawyers Website states: "Listen as our lawyer immediately tells you their initial free expert review of your situation. This confidential review . . . ."

Saba Hananiia (Lawyer - Saba Lawyers) doesn't stop at just ripping people off in the Car Transport Industry. In the lowest of acts he betrayed client confidentiality by publishing texts between he and a client to Facebook. Why?? He owes the client money, a lot of money, and has refused to pay them. Publishing the texts was an attempt by Hanania to discredit his client. It has been recommended Hanania be reported to the Law Society. We can't elaborate any further however check back for updates on the progress of that complaint.

Don't Use RMC Transport, there are much better alternatives!!

If you want your car transported there are a number of company's who will deliver on their promise, Saba Hanania, judging by the number of complaints regarding his "interesting business practices" is someone who should be avoided.

If you have an unresolved dispute with RMC Transport it is recommended you contact Consumer Affairs in your State. You will need the following information for your complaint:
RMC Motorsport Pty Ltd ABN 46 633 771 534 t/a RMC Transport
2 Blanche Street
Belfield NSW 2191
Tel: 0407 190 190
Website: rmcmotorsport.com.au/prestige-transport

UPDATE (January 25, 2020

We were contacted yesterday by a lady who had paid Saba Hanania (owner of Saba Lawyers) to represent her son. Hanania organised to meet them on the court house steps and no showed. Taking money upfront and no-showing is Hanania's MO. You would be very wise to avoid this bloke like the proverbial plague.

UPDATE (January 11, 2020

RMC Transport and Saba Hanania Reported to RMS NSW for towing well over allowable tow weight. Read the full story here.

UPDATE (December 20, 2019)

Hanania and RMC Transport have been reported to Fair Trading for underpaying drivers however he responded with a common ploy used by unscrupulous business owners to avoid investigation - his drivers are "contractors".

Saba Hanania - Saba Lawyers

Saba Hanania - RMC Transport

If you are working in Australia on a Visa that ploy no longer washes with Fair Trading however if you are an Australian Citizen it takes the investigation off the table. This doesn't change Hanania's obligation to pay drivers however it now becomes a commercial matter that has to be dealt with in the courts, a costly drawn out legal process.

If you have had similar experiences with Saba Hanania please send us your story.

More Information about RMC Transport and Saba Hanania

Hanania Uses Google Adwords to Get His Next Victim

Car Transport Consumer Alert - RMC Transport

Inappropriate Access to Patient Records Spanned 14 Years

2017-08-23T12:58:00.000+10:00

Author: Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

State Hospital Discovered Breach After a Former Patient Complained

Inappropriate access to electronic patient records by a clerk for 14 years at a state-run psychiatric facility in Massachusetts shows just how difficult it can be to detect and prevent long-term breaches involving insiders.

"These are the hardest cases to detect if you are still trying to audit manually or with a tool that only looks for compliance violations," says Mac McMillan, president of the security consultancy CynergisTek. "This is the kind of incident that demonstrates the need for behavioral-based monitoring that is capable of sorting through so much more data to identify inappropriate activity."

Victim Count

In a notice posted Friday on its website, the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services, which operates Tewksbury Hospital, says a former hospital employee "without good reason" accessed the records of patients for more than a decade.

"Individuals who may be affected include people who were patients at Tewksbury Hospital from 2003 through May 2017," the statement says. Approximately 1,100 patients were impacted by the records snooping.

The health department says it's providing written notice to affected patients in addition to posting the notice on its website.

The 370-bed Tewksbury Hospital includes approximately 220 beds for "complex chronic" medical adult patients who reside in seven inpatient units, and 150 for psychiatric clients in five inpatient units. The hospital also accommodates offices for five state agencies.

Breach Discovery

The breach was discovered in April when a former patient expressed concern that someone may have accessed their electronic medical record inappropriately, the health department's notice says.

Read More . . . .

SAI Global sues former worker for raiding database

2016-11-22T04:31:00.000+11:00

By Sarah Danckert Sydney Morning Herald

Nicking a pen or taking some batteries home from the office is almost an Australian past-time, but some people take a whole lot more from their employers and end up paying for it dearly.

Last week, the Federal Court found that an employee at information services and compliance powerhouse SAI Global had accessed the company's database and made copies onto a USB stick and then an Excel spreadsheet before jumping to competitor Infotrack.

Sales staffer Liam Johnstone breached his employment contract with SAI Global, his employment duties under the Corporations Act and the company's copyright through his unauthorised use of SAI Global's confidential data, according to declarations made by Justice Mark Moshinsky.

SAI Global sued Mr Johnstone for a little over $9231 in damages and returned wages as well $275,469 in costs after discovering Mr Johnstone's unauthorised access to their database after he left the company in November last year.

Read more . . . .

DATA THEFT - Who can help? Very few.

2015-04-04T15:36:00.000+11:00

Your data has been stolen. In a way you’re one of the lucky ones, you've found out that your data was stolen and you might even have proof! So what do you do next, who do you call to stop it being used and bring the perpetrator to justice.

Let’s run through some likely options:

You call your lawyer if you have one. If not you need to find one who understands data theft and can advise you. Good luck.

If you do find one they will ask to see the employees contract, partnership agreement or whatever agreement the thief had been engaged under.

They’ll provide their advice as to whether your contract was clear enough in relation to Data, access, and use (and it’s probably not that good). In my experience, very few contracts adequately cover data theft.

They might even suggest writing a legal letter to the person requiring the return of the information, threatening further action and the like.

To get to this point has probably taken 1-2 weeks and cost you between $5,000-$12,000.

You call the police. Alas, they’re not interested because it’s a commercial matter. They advise you to call ASIC, the Australian Security and Investment Commission or the Office of Fair Trading.

You call ASIC. They are polite but let you know theft of this nature is not within their remit and advise you to call the Police.

You call the Privacy Commissioner. They also inform you that they are not responsible for enforcing the law. Depending on the annual turnover of your business you may also have woken another monster. If your TO is over $3mil then guess what, you may also be liable to a fine from the Privacy Commissioner. Oh, by the way. The legislation covering you getting fined does not cover the thief, he's entitled to a get out of jail free card. You see in the OAIC's interpretation of security over personal information, it is the business owners responsibility, not the thieves.

You call the Office of Fair Trading. They can’t help, although they are sympathetic and tell you that they’re getting more and more calls about this every day. They suggest you guessed it, the Police.

You go back to your lawyer, or the specialist your lawyer has put you on to discuss progress in relation to the letter that has been sent. Nothing. The lawyer tells you it’s unlikely you’ll be able to successfully sue the person and that if you wanted to it would take at least a year and might cost anywhere between $80,000 to $500,000.

In the end, you have to make the call. Your customers/clients/patients are not returning/making appointments, your staff is feeling the pressure, your suppliers are not being paid as regularly as they use to be, your staff/contractors are also not getting paid on time, you are falling behind on your rent.

You elect not to pursue the thief as you need to focus on your business. Depending on the extent and damage caused by data theft this may not be so easy. Many businesses just close down.

If you do decide to proceed against the thief in the district or supreme court and your contracts aren't absolutely explicit on who owns the data then prepare yourself for disappointment. A recent case that ran for four years in the Supreme Court returned a decision in favour of the thief. There will be more on this case in a coming article.

Who can help you? Well, you can by recognising the importance of employment contracts that include the necessary clauses in relation to the ownership, use, access levels of the Company’s information and the agreed value of this information. Yes, that's right you have to quantify the value of the information or agree a formula in the agreement on how to determine the value. Your privacy policy with customers and relevant indemnities for any breach of the agreement and or your privacy policy also have to be included in the agreement.

Your employee/contractor will need to sign a clause that he has sought legal advice prior signing the agreement, he will need to initial each paragraph in the agreement that refers to ownership of data and or IP, the indemnity clause to cover any loss or damages caused by any breach of your agreement, another clause that they have read, understand and agree your privacy policy and very importantly they agree in advance to any changes during the term that may be required for the privacy policy to meet state and federal requirements. They will need to sign your agreement and your privacy policy in front of an independent witness(s).

You can also take computer security more seriously and invest in a data security review and implement the recommendations.

Will all of this stop a determined data thief? The answer is no it won't. However it will assist you in any legal action, particularly injunctive relief to stop them using your data.

If your bottom line is immediately effected by data theft (example a medical or health related practice) then your only hope is an injunction to stop use. For this you will need a minimum of $50,000 up front and an ability to offer surety over the thief's costs. If your contracts don't stack up on the rights over data and most don't, you'll lose.

Example: If an insider collects the business cards of your customers whilst working in your premises for a couple of years, sends change of address emails/SMS's alerting those persons he is now working for a competitor and then resigns from you two days later, according to the Supreme Court that's all on the up and up. In this particular case, after rushing the hearing the judge took 14 months to hand down his decision in favour of the insider. It must be our convict heritage . . . or am I missing something.

If you need assistance with your agreements we can help point you in the right direction.

Data Theft - Once you know, it’s too late!

2015-03-13T08:06:00.000+11:00

We have progressed to a near fully digital work environment. Any employee with some computer knowhow has the potential to find themselves in a folder they should not be in and taking information out of it.

The reality is, even if you have a sophisticated security, monitoring and tracking system in place across all the computers and mobile devices in your business, you are unlikely to be able to prevent an employee, partner, consultant, or contractor stealing your data.

Big companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to protect their data and they can’t even stop it. Job function more often than not requires you to provide access and even limited access won't stop a determined thief. So there’s little chance that SMEs will have the resources or access to knowledge about what they can realistically do.

So, the real issue in relation to data theft is to do the best you can to make it harder for someone to steal your data because you are unlikely to find out until it’s too late. And less than a minute after an event is too late. Data can be copied by an employee and gone from your business in literally seconds.

Some examples of data theft
A top sales person could take all your business leads and customer contact details to use when they commence work for another company. You might not find out about this until some of your existing customers don't renew their spend with you or when a good customer calls to let you know an ex-employee is trying to win their business.

An agent in your real estate business make take client and or rent roll information and the like and either set up on their own or, more likely move to a competitor.

A doctor or other health professional in your medical practice, who requires access to patient files as a part of their job function in fact by law has to have access, could copy all the information in the patient files, leave your practice and take your patients with them. When would you know? When he doesn't turn up for work the next day to see a waiting room full of patients? Or will it be a patient contacting your office about a change of address text or email they received 5 minutes after the doctor left your center after days work.

The value of Patients contact information is often underestimated. To an identity thief it is the most valuable of all personal data. Contractors and employees have walked away with their employers patient data just before their months pay was to hit their bank account. Why wouldn't they wait until they got paid before stealing the data? Because an opportunity to steal and leave with a valuable customer list presented itself and was worth risking not getting their pay.

A common response from all the above is that it’s illegal, the information is the company’s/firm/practice. Firstly its not illegal in Australia for an employee to steal data and do you really think the person stealing the information cares? In fact they probably feel entitled to some if not all of it.

In for a penny in for a pound
In a recent case a Chiropractor not only stole the contact information of patients he had treated he stole all of his work mates patient contact information as well, 10's of thousands of patients were effected. This ethically challenged individual provided a hacker with his login to get past the levels of security that had prevented him being able to even see let alone copy patients contact details. Now this would have to be illegal! You think! In Australia even this act of fraud is not illegal. How long had he worked for his employer? Over 12 years.

Ah, people say, we have non-compete clauses and other restrictive covenants and we can sue the person for theft, our clients/patients/customers would not leave. Guess what? Have you ever tried pursuing someone through the courts in relation to a breach of confidence, non-compete clause or theft? I have. It costs 10's of thousands just to launch an action and you won't get any change out of another hundred thousand dollars (very likely more) to run a case that may take between 1 and 4 years to get through the court process and then the outcome is not at all certain.

And guess what? The thief can ask the courts for you to provide surety over their costs and damages. In many cases and particularly in the health industry the theft of customer data has already affected your cash flow, you are not covering your business expenses and now you are having to fund a protracted court action. You can stop the thief using your data immediately with an injunction the lawyers will say. You can of if you've got a lazy $80k lying around. Add at least another $50k for surety over the thief's costs. This is big end of town stuff, small business cannot possibly afford these types of actions.

Meanwhile, under a new privacy amendment introduced in 2014 you as the business owner could also be liable for a hefty fine from the Privacy Commissioner and soon it may also be compulsory to notify every one effected by the theft, a huge resource taxing task on its own. The employee who stole the data in the first instance is not covered by the amendment or any other part of the Privacy Act. Yep, that's right they get away scot-free. You can blame ex Labor minister Ms Nicola Roxon and her bureaucrats for that added kick in the guts.

In an earlier post I described what happens when you notify your customers their personal data has been compromised. Your phones will run off the hook with customers ringing to see what information the thief got and most of the callers will be abusive because to them it was the company that didn't protect their information. Its a fickle world out there in consumer land. Many customers will follow the theif and many others will leave because you have bad security. If you couldn’t keep their records safe the first time round why should they trust you.

On top of all this if your business has been the victim of data theft you are also now facing another reality, particularly if you öwn a medical practice, "copy cat theft". I will cover this in a future post.

There are some things you can do to minimise the risks through employee contracts and your privacy "agreement" with customers. There are also things you can do using off the shelf security products and monitoring staff behaviour. I'll also be covering some these in future posts.

Experienced data theft in your business? Send us Your Story.

Who is a Data Thief?

2015-03-08T16:52:00.001+11:00

So who’s the thief? Well the bad news is that it could be anyone and they certainly won’t be wearing dark glasses, a hoodie and sloping around your office – although some of your current employees may dress like this.

A data thief is anyone. Your business partner, senior executive team member, employee, tech-support person, contract sales person, a locum, the employed or contracted health care professional, the admin manager, cleaner, yes even the cleaner ‘could have dunnit.’ Anyone with authorised and unauthorised access to your computer system could steal information from it.

Unauthorised access? In a data theft case in 2010 a Sydney massage therapist used the receptionists login to download the medical centres patient list to a disc after she had asked him to watch the front desk while she went to the the bathroom. He had worked at the centre for over 6 years and was highly regarded by his peers. He used the stolen patient information to start a massage therapy practice less than 75 metres from his employer. He was reported to Police and the ATMS. Nothing came of those reports because he had authorised access to "the premises".

Data Thieves only need the desire, some knowledge of the systems, most times the password/s (many people still use the word ‘password’ as their password), the opportunity and the time to plan their move. In a very recent case a graduate Osteopath, contracted as a locum, collected business cards or mobile phone numbers from the medical centres patients. After compiling a large list he used it to secure a position with a competitor and then contacted the patients in a series of change of address txts. Two days after sending out the txts he resigned from his former employer. According to a Judge in the Supreme Court this behaviour is acceptable and found in the Osteopaths favour.

The reality is, there is such a thing as a typical data thief and some common traits that can provide some, and I mean some, insight to who might be a data thief.

Research shows that a data thief will usually feel entitled to the information and are disgruntled for some reason. They might feel entitled because they helped to create it, therefore they have some ownership of it or entitlement because other people in the company are doing it, or because they know the company won’t be able to find out it was them or even if they did won't have the financial means to go after them.

They also might have ambitions of their own. They might want to start their own business, in which case planning the data theft probably started weeks or even months before they walked out the door. De-risking a start-up is one of the most common reasons for data theft particularly by healthcare professionals. It takes many years, a huge investment in cash and resources to build a medical practice to the critical mass required to be profitable.

Stealing the patient list and sending a change of address series of emails and txt's is a very quick way of ensuring the data thief will have patients when they open the doors of their new practice. Most patients will just think the emails and txt's are a courtesy to inform them the practitioner they have been seeing has moved to a new location and will not be aware of the restrictive covenants covered by most healthcare professional employment and sub-contractor agreements.

The ‘typical data thief’, will most likely be a current employee, male, in their mid 30s and requires access to meet their job-function. Interestingly, in 75% of reported cases, the data thief had authorised access to the data – so you can forget trying to report them to Police or any other authority.

This last point is where the cleaner comes in. If the cleaner has authorised access to the floor/office your computers are in and steals data only from those computers you’ll be hard pressed getting Police or any other authority involved because he had authorised access to the premises. Perhaps this is where the true meaning of the phrase, ‘being taken to the cleaners’ comes from.

Data Theft - Some Facts

2015-03-08T06:10:00.000+11:00

One of the really interesting things about data theft is that it largely goes unreported. What company in their right mind would want to publicise that their customer data has been stolen? How would you feel if your GP called (as they will have to soon do under Australian law) to let you know that all your medical and contact information had been stolen? Not very good.

In fact when we notified effected patients their information had been compromised by ex-employees our reception staff received hundreds of abusive phone calls (and txt's) in the weeks following the theft. Under the guidelines of the OAIC we notified patients within 2 hours of the theft. All the notification did was drive patients away from the medical centre.

These employee data thieves provided their login to a hacker to access and steal sensitive patient information, however, as far as patients were concerned, we had let them down. Reporting the data theft and those responsible to Police, OAIC, APHRA and the HCCC was an absolute waste of time. They did nothing except respond that it was a "commercial matter" and would need to be sorted out in the civil courts. A recent civil case took over three years to get to a hearing in the Supreme Court and over 14 months to get judgement. Civil courts is not a solution nor is it a deterrent that will stop insiders stealing your customer lists or IP.

Getting stats about data theft is quite hard, and there’s hardly any for Australia. But there is some information and it’s pretty shocking.

It is estimated that data theft costs $250 billion in the USA.

14% of breaches were perpetrated by insiders with 7% involving multiple parties
20% of data theft hit information and professional services firms
50% of companies surveyed by the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute experienced at least one data breech by an insider in the previous year.
59% of employees who quit or leave admitted to taking confidential or sensitive information
62% of employees think it’s acceptable to transfer corporate data to their PCs, tablets, smartphone or cloud sharing application without seeking approval.
90% of IT employees indicated that they would take sensitive data if they were fired.

Now I don’t mean to disparage IT employees specifically or employees generally but the facts are clear. Data theft is rife and it’s happening across all businesses at much higher rates than anyone is really aware because it’s so hard to find the information. Verizon releases a data breach investigations report annually, as do a range of other institutions and organisations.

So, don’t kid yourself that it’s not happening much, or not happening much in your business sector, or to your type of business. The simple fact is, that it is and you need to understand it in order to minimise your risk.

There are some pointers on my website to some of the basic things you can do to minimise your risk so have a look.

If its happened to you, send us your story.

APHRA | HCCC | OAIC

Who is at risk of data theft?

2015-02-21T20:01:00.000+11:00

Everyone who owns a business that involves the collection and management of data – well that’s just about everyone in business these days – is at risk of data theft. For example: a real estate agent has a list of potential buyers, clients with houses to sell, properties they manage (Rent Roll) etc. Imagine if one of the agents took any of these lists, let alone all three.

Another example: a medical practice that has patient files, not just the patient’s contact details but their medical records. Any insider with access to these files could remove or copy them and take them out of the business and use them to set up a new practice or use the files to negotiate a position with a competitor. Can’t happen you say, the law would stop them. No it won’t, and it does happen, it happened to me.

One more example: An online training business/consultancy. One of the trainers, who might even be a contractor, gets authorised access to the businesses database of clients AND their learning tools, copies them and sets up their own business. Can’t happen you say. It happens all the time, and it's next to impossible to stop them.

ALSO, under the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's (OAIC) guidelines you are suppose to notify patients (or customers) their information may have been breached. What effect does this notification have on your business? You will get calls, many of them abusive, wondering what information was taken and how the thieves were able to breach your security. The breach notification actually causes additional harm to the businesses reputation and will very likely drive patients or customers away. The OAIC will do nothing to the thief however your business may also suffer the additional financial hit of a massive fine from the Privacy Commissioner.

I know you are thinking that's just not fair, that can't be right. In Australia my dear reader that is absolutely right, insider data thieves are absolutely immune from prosecution by any authority.

ANY business that relies on a database is at risk. If you are a small-to-medium sized business you’re actually more at risk as you simply won’t have the money, time or resources to pursue the person who stole the data, and every moment you spend on chasing them, that person is stealing your customers and your business.

And, this is even more important if you run your own small consultancy business. It may be just you and therefore you might feel safe. But who has access to your computer, who maintains your website, runs your EDM campaigns, does your marketing? Most of these tasks require access to your database – or can open an electronic door to your database. So you’re at risk to.

The best thing you can do, and really the only thing you can do, is be aware. And in the case of data theft be alert and alarmed as well.

There are things you can do to minimise the risk … recognising there is a risk is the first important step.

Data theft - what is it?

2015-02-12T18:19:00.000+11:00

Data theft is when someone takes information (data) from you/your business without authority to do so. There is almost always the intention to use it for personal financial gain – to start up a new business or work in a business that is in competition to yours, on-sell the information to a competitor or encourage your clients/customers to purchase services or products elsewhere.

It’s important to understand that we’re talking about people who are in your business who may well have access to certain levels of data within your company right now. In fact, most employees need a certain level of access to data these days to undertake their jobs - job function. Once people have access to data, or the computers and hard drives that data is stored on, its not hard for them to copy it and steal it.

So, data theft occurs when a person in your business steals information from you. It’s like any other theft, it’s the theft of your data ‘your property’.

There’s a big difference with data theft and other types of property though. You’d know pretty quickly if your car, wallet, laptop, phone, credit cards were stolen and you’d be able to call on various people, the police, other authorities to prevent their use of it. With data theft, you probably won’t know that the data has been stolen until well after its walked out the door or been sent to another device.

And here’s the real challenge and problem.

After the employee has stolen your data assets its next to impossible to prevent them from using it, physically or through the courts. Data can be disseminated in literally seconds. Its gone baby and there is nothing you can do to stop it's use unless:
1. you can prove the culprit took it;
2. you have enough money to injunct the person to prevent them from using it;
and in Australia you'll need a big chunck of change and resources just to raise an injunction let alone provide surety over costs to the courts and the thief. That's right, the thief can ask the courts that you provide a guarantee over their costs to defend against your allegations and then use the financial gains they have made from the theft to defend themselves.

A very recent case took three years in the Supreme Court to get to hearing and another 14 months to get a decision from the Judge. The business from where the data was stolen lost their case and the thief and the competitor he took the data to have both prospered financially.

Data theft would have to be the biggest source of fraud in the world that is rarely successfully prosecuted … and the data thieves, particularly in Australia, know this.

So, if data is important to your business, you need to really start thinking about how you protect it (and I’m not talking about spam or standard security software here), how you store it, what levels of access you allow to it and how you monitor its access and use. And very importantly you have to be very aware of changes in employee attitudes toward you, staff and or the business.

Data Theft by Self-entitled or Disgruntled Employees

2015-02-07T14:14:00.000+11:00

Why did I start this blog how will it help you?

A few of years ago I was the victim of systematic data theft by self-entitled employees not once but on five separate occasions and all within a relatively short period of time. On various occasions even my identity was stolen by these insiders.

The loss and damages to the business we founded in 1998, my family and I were so significant that we lost the business, our home, every other asset we owned and ended up with over $2 million in personal and business debt.

Rather than be beaten by the experience I started this blog, so that I could help others, particularly those in small-to-medium sized businesses, become more aware about data theft and ways in which they can reduce the chance of it happening to them.

If you think it won’t happen to you, you’re wrong, and it probably already has. If you've had an employee or business partner leave your business with your sales database, patient or customer list, rent or leasing list … any list or other IP you've experienced data theft. Sometimes it does not have a major impact on your business, but other times it could destroy your business and plunge you into debilitating debt virtually overnight.

The risk of data theft has grown in the last 10 years as a result of the trend of BYOD (bring your own device), Cloud-based computing and big data. Even the ubiquitous USB makes is dead easy for someone to walk out of your office with your business.

So, I’m sharing my knowledge, my story and the stories of others so that insider data thieves don’t get such a clear run and you can minimise the opportunity they have to ruin your business and possibly your life.

Ex-Citadel Employee Gets Three Years for Data Theft

2015-01-21T13:22:00.002+11:00

Andrew Harris, Bloomberg

USA - A former Citadel LLC employee who admitted stealing data from the Chicago-based investment firm as well as high-frequency trading computer code from a New Jersey company was sentenced to three years in prison.

Yihao “Ben” Pu, who was charged in 2011, pleaded guilty in August to stealing proprietary information from Citadel in 2011 and to an earlier theft of trade secrets from Red Bank, New Jersey-based Tradeworx Inc.

Pu, 27, apologized to both companies as U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle in Chicago handed down the punishment today. He told the judge the thefts were “the most regrettable actions” of his life.

“I’ve paid a price for this case, personally, professionally, financially,” Pu said.

Citadel, founded by billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin, manages more than $24 billion, according to its website. Pu worked for the firm as a quantitative financial engineer from May 2010 to August 2011.

Prosecutors sought a sentence from seven years and three months to nine years, citing the loss to the two firms. Citadel said in a letter to Norgle that the firm had spent more than $10 million on research and development of its stolen data.

Pu’s lawyers said the companies lost no more than $2,000. Norgle concluded that the loss was around $12 million total. Pu must surrender to prison by May 1.

Obstructed Probe
A co-defendant, Sahil Uppal, who in August pleaded guilty to obstructing a criminal investigation, was sentenced today to three month’s probation. Pu and Uppal worked together at Tradeworx before joining Citadel four months’ apart in 2010. By the time he’d arrived at the firm, Pu had taken code from Tradeworx, he told the court at his August plea. Uppal admitted he wrote code for Citadel, then secretly transfered it to a computer he and Pu used. In August 2011, Citadel officials confronted Pu with suspicions he’d stolen data and told him to return it. Uppal and a person who wasn’t identified later removed computer hardware from Pu’s apartment, including hard drives with the firm’s confidential information, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay Jenkins told Norgle during Uppal’s August hearing.

The two must repay Citadel a total of almost $760,000 to cover the cost of its investigation, the judge said.

Katie Spring, a Citadel spokeswoman, declined to comment on the sentences. Tradeworx didn’t immediately respond to a voice-mail message.

The case is U.S. v. Pu, 11-cr-00699, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).

Morgan Stanley reveals theft of client data by insider

2015-01-09T10:56:00.001+11:00

by Tom Braithwaite, Financial Times

Morgan Stanley said that up to 10 per cent of its wealth management clients had their account information stolen by an employee who may have been looking to sell it.

The US bank’s wealth management arm has about 3.5m clients. An employee “briefly” published to the internet the account names and numbers of about 900 of those clients.

The employee was fired and the incident reported to law enforcement and regulators, Morgan Stanley said, adding that there was “no evidence of any economic loss to any client”. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been notified.

A person familiar with the matter said the employee was a financial adviser named Galen Marsh, a 30-year-old based in New Jersey. The Wall Street Journal first reported his identity.

The person familiar with the matter said Morgan Stanley believed Mr Marsh was attempting to sell the data. However, Mr Marsh denies this.

Robert Gottlieb, a lawyer at Gottlieb & Gordon, who is representing Mr Marsh, said: “This is an employment matter between Mr Marsh and Morgan Stanley. He has acknowledged that he should not have obtained the account information and has been co-operating with Morgan Stanley to protect the firm and its customers. To be clear, Mr Marsh did not sell nor ever intended to sell any account information. He did not post account information online. Nor did he share any information with anyone. Nor use it for any financial gain. He is devastated by what has occurred and is extremely sorry for his conduct.”

The data breach is large: Morgan Stanley operates the second-biggest wealth management operations in the US, behind Merrill Lynch, and serves the equivalent of more than one in 100 Americans, who use brokerage accounts to trade stocks and bonds.

But it is dwarfed by several big data breaches in 2014, including the 76m households affected by a hacking incident at JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank by assets.

In that incident, which is believed to have been perpetrated by outside computer hackers, JPMorgan disclosed in October that contact details, but no account numbers or social security numbers, were compromised.

The Morgan Stanley theft shows the difficulties financial institutions have in securing their data against internal threats.

Companies have made progress in securing the “perimeter” of their computer systems, according to security companies, but have struggled to reduce the opportunities for employees to steal potentially valuable data.

“The data stolen does not include account passwords or social security numbers,” Morgan Stanley said in a statement. “The firm is taking the precaution of notifying all potentially affected clients and instituting enhanced security procedures including fraud monitoring on these accounts.”

Shares in Morgan Stanley were down 3.1 per cent by the close in New York.

Morgan Stanley discovered the published account information on December 27 during routine scans of the internet, according to a person familiar with the matter, who said it had received “virtually no hits”.

“Morgan Stanley takes extremely seriously its responsibility to safeguard client data, and is working with the appropriate authorities to conduct and conclude a thorough investigation of this incident,” the bank said.

Getting larger in wealth management has been a big — and apparently — successful gamble by chief executive James Gorman in an attempt to move Morgan Stanley away from riskier fixed income trading and towards a more reliable source of revenues.

Last quarter Morgan Stanley’s wealth management arm made $3.8bn in revenues and pre-tax income of $836m. It employs more than 16,000 financial advisers.

Medical Identity Theft on the Rise and is the Golden Target for Hackers

2014-12-07T07:57:00.001+11:00

Jackson Lewis, The National Law Review

Medical identity information is worth more than ten (10) times that of financial information on the black market. This gives hackers a financial incentive to obtain such information that is maintained not only by medical providers and pharmacies but also by employers who provide medical insurance coverage to their employees. Employers may hold, in their human resources or other networking systems, not only the medical records of their employees obtained from managing workers compensation claims and other matters, but also, and more importantly, employers may maintain medical insurance registration forms and health insurance billing information on their employees. This is exactly the type of information that is at risk and which increasingly is breached.

Why is medical identity information so valuable on the black market?
Fortune reports, medical identity theft is in demand on the black market. Employer data systems are a goldmine for would-be hackers. Within medical records hackers can find social security numbers, dates of birth, health insurance policy numbers, and other billing information that can be used for financial fraud, but also medical identity theft, where the billing information can be utilized to obtain medical services and prescriptions in the name of the individual whose identity has been compromised.

How can employers protect the medical identity information they hold?
The starting point is doing a risk and vulnerability assessment to gain an understanding of the business’ data privacy and security risks. There are a number of resources available to assist in designing and carrying out an assessment. If the medical information is subject to HIPAA, such as in the case of information maintained with respect to the company’s group health plan for employees, HHS has released security assessment tool. Of course, much of an employee’s medical information maintained by an employer is NOT subject to HIPAA, such as leave of absence records and workers compensation records.

Another source is National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) which recently issued a draft update of its primary guide to assessing security and privacy controls. While the work NIST does, including this guide, is designed for federal information systems and networks, it is an excellent and comprehensive source for businesses to understand steps they too can take to safeguard their systems and data. For many employers, these tools may be too extensive and simply not practical. This is where a qualified data privacy expert counselor can add value in helping you to appropriately assess your administrative, physical and technical risks. Either way, a necessary and appropriate risk assessment will then lead to the development and implementation of a written information security program.

Of course, getting management, C-suite, support is essential. Data privacy and security is an enterprise-wide risk which requires an enterprise-wide solution. This is not something that should be left up to the IT Department to handle solo. Rather, the buy-in for the need for adequate safeguards and training has to come from the top and key stake holders have to be brought into the planning and assessment early in the process in order to obtain adequate support for building of data safety program and culture of data privacy and security. Accordingly, the protection of all personally identifiable information, including medical information, takes buy-in and leadership from senior management, a careful understanding the organization’s risks and vulnerabilities, knowing what the law requires, coordination with key persons inside the organization and certain third parties outside the organization, frequent and regular security awareness and training, and regular re-evaluation of the organization’s approach for changed circumstances.

UK - Morrisons employee appears in court over staff data theft fraud charge

2014-12-03T13:45:00.001+11:00

Telegraph & Argus

A Morrisons employee has denied abusing his position to fraudulently disclose personal data at the supermarket firm.

Andrew Skelton, a senior internal auditor, denied charges under the Computer Misuse Act, the Data Protection Act and the Fraud Act.

Skelton, 43, from Liverpool, was charged with the offences after an investigation at the Morrisons head office in Bradford.

The supermarket employee appeared at Bradford Magistrates' Court and spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth and to enter not guilty pleas.

The court clerk read the charges to Skelton, who stood in the witness box wearing a dark suit, pale blue tie and glasses.

He is accused of using a computer to gain unauthorised access to a programme or data with the intent to commit fraud; knowingly or recklessly disclosing personal data without the consent of the data controller; and conspiring to commit fraud by abusing his position with the intention of causing loss to Morrisons supermarkets.

All the offences are alleged to have taken place between November last year and March 20 this year.

Skelton, of Water Street, Liverpool, was released on bail and will appear at Bradford Crown Court on December 16