The National Anti-Scam Centre is warning consumers to be wary of bank impersonation scams. Specifically, any unsolicited calls, emails or messages from someone claiming to be from their bank, requesting they provide their personal or financial information, transfer funds, or provide a one-time security code over the phone.
Scammers often claim to be calling from the bank’s fraud department and may refer to an account compromise, suspicious transaction, or online banking outage to try to create a sense of urgency.
Consumers should also be aware that scammers may use technology to deceive their victims, by making the call appear to come from the bank’s legitimate phone number, or by sending a text that appears in the same conversation thread as genuine bank messages.
Scammers may also use numbers that are very similar to the bank’s legitimate phone number in the hope that victims won’t detect the difference, even when comparing the two.
“If you receive an SMS with a telephone number to call, do not use it. Instead, call your bank direct on a number you have sourced yourself. Likewise, hang up if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from your bank requesting you to transfer money to ‘keep it safe’. Your bank will never ask you to do this. Ask for a reference number and call your bank back using contact details you have found independently.” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
Consumers should:
STOP - don’t be rushed into providing personal or financial information, or transferring money. Your bank will never ask you to transfer your money into another account to keep it safe. Never provide online banking passwords, one-time security codes, PINs or tokens to anyone over the phone. Don’t click on links sent via email or in a message on your phone, even if they appear to come from your bank.
CHECK - verify who you are talking to. Contact your bank using your banking app or a phone number you have sourced from your banking app, bank website, statement, or card.
PROTECT - Act quickly - if you have transferred funds, provided access to your account or information to a scammer, contact your bank immediately and report to scamwatch.gov.au to help protect others. Tell your friends and family: it helps to share your experience so they can give you support, and also so you can help them stay safe from scams.