Australian Immigration Daily News

Migration Alliance is in receipt of the following information from an RMA:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

I have a client currently under consideration for a Health Waiver in respect of a spouse application and she received the attached email  to her personal email address yesterday. 

DIBP---Inadvertent-disclosure-of-personal-information-1.pdf  (click to view the letter from DIBP)

This is extremely worrying:

1)      The email went to her personal email address and not to mine as her RMA.  All previous correspondence in respect of her matter from DIBP/MOC/BUPA health has been sent to me as it should have been.

2)      The letterhead is different to all other correspondence I have ever received from DIBP.

3)      The letter is in an editable Word document when all correspondence from DIBP is usually in PDF format.

4)      The last page of the letter does not have a footer on it.

5)      There is no digital signature given by the Doctor in his sign off

This is a very serious breach of Privacy and I called the AFP to report this matter as I wanted through a formal advice process register my client’s passport and other details in case her identity was stolen and used for untoward purposes.  The woman I spoke to was not at all interested, she told me there were a lot of scams about, she mentioned the ATO scam and told me to take the matter up with DIBP.

The purpose of this correspondence is:

1)      To request the Management of Migration Alliance take this matter up with DIBP on behalf of all Members whose clients might have received the same notification to determine if this is true or if it is a scam.

2)      To advise DIBP of the possibility of their computer systems having been compromised if this is indeed a scam;  this is a possibility as my client’s personal email was accessed to send this notification to and not mine officially recorded on the DIBP system for contact which should have happened.

3)      To alert all Members to this situation and to seek guidance from DIBP how to proceed in the best interests of our clients in the event there has been a security breach of the DIBP/BUPA systems.

4)      To work with the AFP to set up an official record where all RMA’s who have had clients affected by this situation to register details to prevent an event of identity theft being used against our client.

5)      To have an official statement regarding this situation issued by DIBP through MARA.

I have taken advice from a very senior IT Security expert that no link should be clicked on contained in this correspondence as it is very likely to have a virus attached to it.

I thank you for your kind consideration of my correspondence."

Migration Alliance has followed this situation up with the DIBP and the AFP in writing today.