Real estate site Domain has been hit by a cyber attack, with the company warning users that their personal information may have been compromised this week.
According to the Herald, the cyber attack has allowed an unauthorised third party to access user data and demand rental deposits.
“We have identified a scam that used a phishing attack to gain access to Domain’s administrative systems to engage with people who have made rental property enquiries,” Pellegrino said in an email according to the Herald.
“We understand the scammers then contacted some of these people by email to suggest that they pay a ‘deposit’ to secure a rental property on a website nominated by the scammer. Importantly, we have had no reports made by an individual directly to Domain who had fallen for the scam.
“There is a risk that some of your personal information may have been accessed by an unauthorised third party that has obtained access to Domain’s systems as a result of a scam targeting one of our systems,” he added. “It is not yet clear how many users were affected by the scam.”
Pellegrino said Domain had contacted the relevant authorities.
He added that such scams have become more common during the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, since COVID, scams like these have been on the rise. It is disappointing for us to find out that after such a challenging past twelve months for many of us some see this as an opportunity to take advantage of others,” he said.
Earlier this year Nine – which owns 65 per cent of Domain – was hit with a cyber attack that saw the network’s broadcast schedule disrupted by a ransomware attack.
