Beware of scammers posing as banks or couriers

According to the ACCC’s National Anti-Scam Centre¹, there have been over 73,000 reported phishing scams this year with scammers impersonating trusted sources to steal your money or personal information.

Matthew Hannan, Head of Fraud Management at HSBC Australia, says that scammers will try to create a false sense of urgency to persuade customers into taking immediate action to protect their money or help them with a fake investigation.

“Scammers contact people pretending to be from the bank claiming that your debit or credit card has been used fraudulently and to gain your trust, the scammer will tell you to ring your bank on the telephone number printed on the back of their card to ensure the call is genuine,” said Hannan.

According to Hannan, the scammer pretends to hang up the call, but keeps the telephone line open. Even though the customer thinks they are calling their bank, the call does not go through. Instead they are still unwittingly connected to the scammer.

“The scammer, who is now pretending to be your bank, will say that the card needs to be collected and will ask the customer to share their PIN or write it down and put it in an envelope with the card and their online banking secure key, before sending a courier to collect the items.

“The customer is then told the card is going to the bank to be replaced but is actually delivered to the scammer. Once in possession of the card, the PIN and the victim’s full bank details, the scammer will attempt to withdraw all available funds from the customer’s account.”

To avoid becoming a victim of a courier scam, remember:

• Your bank will never send a courier to your home to collect your card, PIN, or online banking secure key. Contact your bank and your local Police immediately if this happens
• Do not divulge your PIN to anyone
• Your bank may call for fraud detection purposes to verify whether a transaction is genuine or not. However, they will never ask you to divulge your internet banking credentials or security codes to authorise logins or payments, or advise you that they are sending a courier to collect this information
• With any suspicious or unexpected call, always verify the call, by checking the number exists from an independent source. If in doubt, don’t call back