Fraud and scams

Scammers impersonate banks, family members, government agencies, delivery services, or well-known businesses. Messages may look genuine and use official logos, language, or caller IDs. They may even have some of your personal information from various data breaches. Always use official contact details to verify the request.

If you believe you have been contacted by a scammer or are concerned about your privacy, please call us directly on 13 11 82.

Read our handy tips to keep your banking safe.

Investment scams promise big returns, but the goal is stealing money from you.

Australians lose more money to investment scams than any other type of scam. These scams can be hard to spot.

Criminals impersonate legitimate investment and finance companies. They also use convincing marketing and new technology to make their investment sound too good to miss. They promise you big payouts with little or no risk. They often use pressure tactics to get you to act fast, so they can steal your money before you have a chance to check the deal.

Scammers create fake data to make you think your investment is growing. They may build your trust by allowing you to make small withdrawals, but when you try to withdraw all your funds they will come up with reasons not to pay you. You can lose access to your money.

The increasing popularity of online dating has provided an attractive target for criminals who prey on people looking for love or romance. Scammers target victims by creating fake profiles on legitimate internet dating services.

Once you are in contact with a scammer, they will express strong emotions for you in a relatively short period of time and will suggest you move the relationship away from the website, to phone, email and/or instant messaging. Scammers often claim to be from Australia, but travelling or working overseas. Once they have gained your trust they will ask you (either subtly or directly) for money, gifts or your banking/credit card details.

They will pretend to need these for a variety of reasons. The money you send to scammers is almost always impossible to recover. On occasions the scammers will also send money to victims for them to on forward, either locally or overseas. These funds are generally stolen money, which implicates the victim in money laundering activities.

Read our handy tips to keeping your banking safe.

Scammers posing as online buyers and sellers are on the rise. Be wary of any transactions involving an overpayment and request to refund excess money via internet banking.

If you’re selling an item, be cautious of buyers asking you to set up a PayID to receive funds. If you’re purchasing an item, avoid any payment methods by money order, internet banking transfer, international transfer, gift cards or crypto currency.

Remember to research the buyer/seller and look for reviews, and where possible meet in person or arrange a video call to inspect the item. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Remember, scammers can be buyers or sellers using legitimate sites.

If you believe you have been contacted by a scammer or are concerned about your privacy, please call us directly on 13 11 82. 

Read our handy tips to keeping your banking safe.

Remote access scams are one of the largest growing scam types in Australia.

Most commonly, scammers pretend to be from well-known organisations such as Telstra, eBay, NBN Co, Amazon, banks or computer and IT support organisations and create a sense of urgency to make you give them access to your computer. Pop-ups can also be used, claiming to be from Microsoft or other tech companies, saying there is a problem with your computer and asking you to click on the pop up ‘to receive assistance’. Once the scammer has gained access to your computer, they can access your bank accounts and personal information.

You can learn more about remote access scams on by visiting our blog article here, or by visiting Scamwatch.

Read our handy tips to keeping your banking safe.

Job and employment scams target people who are looking for work, a change in employment or seeking to earn some additional money. These jobs are frequently advertised online and often promise significant income for limited hours or the flexibility of working from home.

The primary purpose of this scam is to recruit people to be unwitting “Money mules”. A money mule is a person who receives stolen funds, usually from Internet Banking fraud and then on-forwards that money to someone else, either locally or overseas and receives a commission for doing so. Transferring money in this manner is considered money laundering and is a criminal offence. 

Read our handy tips to keeping your banking safe.

Inheritance or lottery scams usually start with an unsolicited email, letter or text message advising of a large sum of money which has either been inherited or won in a lottery.

Generally, the letter will ask you to respond quickly and confidentially to secure the funds.

You may be asked to provide personal and account details for funds to be deposited into your account. You may also be asked to send money to pay fees or charges relating to having the winnings released.

Phishing (malicious) emails claim to be sent from legitimate companies including financial institutions, requesting passwords or login details. Often these emails will also use links and/or attachments to direct you to false sites or download viruses or malware to your computer or mobile device.

Some common ways to detect phishing emails include:

• The from email address appears inconsistent with the sender information.
• The messages is not personalised.
• The message is asking you to confirm or verify your account information via clicking a link or opening an attachment.
• When you hover your mouse over a link, the URL appears inconsistent with the sender information.
• The message is unsolicited and has a sense of urgency requiring a response.
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If you’re unsure call and confirm the legitimacy of the message with the sender before opening or clicking on links using a phone number you have looked up yourself.

Read our handy tips to keeping yourself safe from phishing.

Similar to phishing emails criminals will also try to obtain personal and banking information by way of phone calls. Callers may impersonate your financial institution, government department (ATO etc) and other large companies such as Telstra or Microsoft.

Some common ways to detect and protect you from hoax phone calls include:

• The call is unsolicited.
• The caller asks you to confirm some of your personal details, credit card or online account details over the phone then asks you to provide additional information.
• The caller asks you to provide remote access to your computer.
• The caller is offering unclaimed refunds or incentives.
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If in doubt, hang up and contact the caller using a phone number you have looked up yourself.

Read our handy tips to keeping yourself safe from phishing.