The Optus data breach has driven a spike in complaints against the telco industry, with more than 17,900 Australians writing to the ombudsman to express displeasure with their services.

The latest telecommunications industry ombudsman (TIO) report shows complaints rose almost 10 per cent between September and December 2022, with complaints about Optus, in particular, soaring 39.3 per cent after 10 million of their customers had their personal data stolen.

Customers had their phone numbers, names, addresses, Medicare information and passport details stolen in the data breach, although there was no evidence any financial data was taken.

Telecommunications ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said Australians continue to experience issues related to the monumental hack, which was the largest in Australian history when first reported to officials.

“We began to see the impact of the Optus data breach on our mobile complaint issues at the end of the previous quarter, but the complaints from this period of October to December really highlight the problems people are experiencing because of the breach,” Ms Gebert said.

“Privacy and the unauthorised disclosure of personal information are not the only issues for consumers. We’re also handling an increased number of complaints from Optus customers about disputed termination fees, customer service problems, and failing to cancel a mobile service.”

Source: TIO (click to enlarge).

While gripes about customer service failings – including companies failing to take action on problems – continue to dominate complaints, those about the unauthorised disclosure of personal information jumped to the third most complained about issue in the December quarter.

Complaints about non-financial loss, including “stress and humiliation from a privacy breach” also increased significantly, the TIO report found.

“We’re continuing to work closely with Optus to ensure consistent approaches are being taken to resolving complaints so that people can get a fair and reasonable outcome, and we have adapted how we work to handle the higher volume of complaints we received,” Ms Gebert said.

The purported hacker behind the data theft claimed to have deleted the stolen information, but authorities have so far been unable to confirm whether all of the customer data was disposed of.

The Optus data breach, later followed by an even more severe hack of Medibank, has caused a massive re-think of privacy and cybersecurity laws in Australia, with new reforms set to increase penalties for businesses that fail to secure customer data.