Anthony Cochrane was only away for a few days when his accounts were ransacked, and $22,788.17 withdrawn.

The first he knew something had gone wrong was when his mobile phone would not work.

He was told by his phone carrier that at 4.11pm on May 13 his phone number went to someone else.

“They [his mobile phone carrier] told me I’d transferred my number to another carrier,” he said.

“I didn’t get my phone number [back] for 1.5 days; we didn’t even know anything else had happened.

“I didn’t even think .... why would someone want my number?”

Mr Cochrane put the whole thing down to nothing more sinister than a technical glitch.

On his return to Bathurst, he tried to log into his business banking accounts to check the balance – and that’s when he got the shock of his life.

“I couldn’t log on [to my account] on my computer and I rang the bank,” he said.

“It said you’ve got $143 and I said no.”

He suspects they needed his mobile to receive an automatic security notification his bank would have sent to confirm the transfers from his accounts.

Mr Cochrane had become Bathurst’s latest victim of fraud – a category of crime whose cases have increased by 45.4 per cent in 12 months.

Fraud cases in Bathurst rose from 130 in 2012 to 189 in 2013, according to the latest data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

Mr Cochrane was suddenly left with no money to complete work or pay suppliers for his Cochrane’s Garage Doors business.

“That night, when we found out, it changed it all,” he said.

“I was in shock. I thought that’s the end for me.

“I had to borrow money from my brother to pay suppliers ... I’ll probably have to borrow more.

“I’ve got about $8000 worth of bills and a month to pay them.”

Mr Cochrane experienced computer problems about a month ago and had to get it repaired after it had apparently been infected by a virus.

He has since been told a “Trojan” was most likely sent into his computer to search for personal information.

“They’ve worked out the money went to Sydney ... they reckon they put a bug in the account,” he said.

“If you think you’re losing you’re phone number, it may be more than that you’re losing.”

He has reported the theft to NSW Police and his financial institution, yet neither are able to confirm if he will ever get his stolen money back.

Chifley Local Area Command crime manager detective inspector Luke Rankin said anyone who uses a computer or the internet, or who uses or applies for credit cards and keycards may be at some stage vulnerable to electronic fraud.

“We’ve been co-operating with the financial institution and at this stage the investigation is ongoing,” he said.