How to Avoid Mobile Phone Scams in Australia

Circles Life Australia Mobile Scams how to avoid

Across Australia, nearly $300 million was lost to scammers in the first half of 2022. That’s close to the total amount lost in all of 2021. Clearly, scammers are getting bolder and more creative with their approach. And Australia’s cost of living crisis is making it worse!

What are the Different Types of Phone Scams?

Phone scam methods are constantly changing. As soon as a scam becomes well known, scammers invent a new one to take its place, but some basic elements make it easier to know when something isn’t quite right.

To help you figure out whether something is a scam, look for random or unknown callers asking for these things:

• Personal information like your date of birth or address
• Banking details
• Passwords
• Money to be paid via the phone
• A call back without telling you who the caller is

Hang up on any phone call asking for this information immediately! Even if they don’t ask for banking or financial information, sharing personal information can be just as damaging. Jakewalker
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1. Robocall Scams

Robocall scams – those prerecorded messages – can use any angle to convince you of their legitimacy. They may impersonate financial institutions, government departments, or even retail outlets.

2. Free Gift or Special Offer Scams

Free gift or special offer scams are particularly devious because their victims get so excited, they drop their guard. Scammers may call with claims that you’ve won a huge prize, like a car or a cruise. Then, they ask for personal or financial details so that you can “claim” it.

3. Dating Scams

Dating scams can be difficult to spot because they seem very legitimate.

4. Fake Charity Scams

This is where scammers impersonate real charities or invent fake ones to gather donations. They pull on the heartstrings by talking about their cause. Then they either ask for a financial donation or your card details.

5. Investment Scams

Like the charity scam, investment scammers want your money or your banking information. They may call with an “exclusive offer” or a free ticket to an investment seminar (with sketchy details) to “get in at the ground level” of a new business or other exciting claims. But if they ask for your financial details outright, that’s a red flag.

6. Job and Employment Scams

Employment scams range from offering jobs to offering unemployment cheques. The giveaway that they’re scams is if they ask for your personal information or banking details – or worse still, ask for money to ‘guarantee’ you a job. This phone scam should be easy to spot: No legit employer or recruiter would expect you to share that kind of information over the phone!

7. Threat and Extortion Scams

Trying to panic their victims, extortion scammers may claim to have sensitive information – this could range from money you owe to threats about publishing your private pictures online. They then demand money or financial information in exchange for withholding that information.

8. Tech Support Scams

Tech support scams are designed to convince you there’s a problem with your computer. Scammers may say they’re calling from your computer, tablet, or phone manufacturer, and can ask for passwords, email addresses, home addresses – anything they think they can get away with.

9. Bank Call Scams

Scammers may call impersonating your bank. They may start the conversation by saying there has been an issue with your account or card, or that they’ve seen suspicious overseas transactions on your credit card. Under the pretext of ‘verifying’ these details, they may then ask for your banking details, including:

• Bank account numbers
• Card details
• Banking passwords
• ATM pins

Scammers can also lie about a problem with your account and insist you move your balance to a “safer” account. That of course isn’t true, and once your money is in their account, it may be impossible to get back.

To avoid falling for bank call scams, remember that banks don’t ask for this information over the phone. They also won’t ask you to move funds to an account that isn’t yours.

If you’re still unsure, it’s best not to provide the information. If it was a legitimate call, your bank will find another way to contact you.

10. Tax Time Scams

Come July and scammers become more active than ever. Tax-time scammers generally start with claims of a serious problem (e.g. with your tax )returns or to frazzle and panic people. This could be that you’re late on tax payments or evaded them altogether.

11. Australian Border Force Scams

This is a common scam in Australia and chances are, you’ve received a call from someone pretending to be from the Immigration Department or Australian Border Force. They may raise issues about your visa status or passport and even threaten to deport you – all with the aim to stress you out enough to part with your precious personal info.

What Should You Do to Protect Yourself from Phone Scams?

Even those of us who are good at spotting phone call scams may become victims in other ways. Scammers can hack into everything from online accounts to voicemail inboxes. We recommend you take the following steps to protect yourself from the ever-so-creative mobile scammers.

Be Careful About Sharing Personal Information

The best way to protect your personal information is never to share it. That’s especially true over the phone or over text. But what if your bank was really calling to double-check your details?

Communicate With Your Bank

That brings us to our next point – tell your bank what is going on. If you suspect you may have shared passwords with a scammer or sent them any money, contact them immediately. Make sure you have administrative privileges or the necessary recover deleted files win 10 permissions to access the Command Prompt on your computer.

Set Personal Passwords

Make sure you set all your passwords yourself. Whenever you buy new devices or make new accounts, they may offer a default password. Always change this immediately so that your password is uniquely yours.

Choose Strong Passwords

A weak password is almost as bad as no password! It’s crucial that accounts with access to saved card details have strong passwords.

Predictable passwords are strings of consecutive or repeating numbers. Common words are also easily guessed. For example, never use these passwords:

• 1234
• 0000
• Password

Instead, create a unique password for each site you use. Make sure it has numbers, lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and symbols.

In fact, many online accounts now require that passwords contain all these elements. They may also require a minimum number of characters.

Use a Phone PIN

It can be irritating having to log in with a password or PIN every time you use your phone, tablet, or laptop. That’s especially true if you, like the average person, open your phone 110 times a day.

If you’re the only person that uses your phone, a PIN may feel unnecessary. But if someone stole or hacked into your phone and there was no PIN, they could access banking and personal information.

A simple 4 digit PIN can prevent this from happening.

Ensure Voicemail PINs are Secure

Just like all technology, voicemail inboxes aren’t immune from being hacked. Keep your voicemail secure by using a voicemail PIN. Pro security tip: Keep your voicemail PIN different to your phone PIN. That way, even if one gets compromised, the other won’t be.

Disable PBX Ports and Features You Don’t Use

In certain circumstances, PABX features can be helpful. Especially for business communication, features like call forwarding can make things much smoother.

But for most personal mobile phones or home handsets, these features aren’t needed. If you don’t use features like remote call forwarding, turn them off in your settings. That way, you cut off one more method scammers could use to get to you.

Regularly Change PINs and Passwords

PINs and passwords are only secure as long as they’re private. But scammers and hackers are constantly trying to change that.A password that was secure today may not be tomorrow. Data leaks happen, and hacking software improves. If you use the same password for years, there’s a chance it could get compromised.

So to be on the safe side, change all of your passwords regularly.

And most of all, don’t use the same password across multiple sites. For the same reason, don’t use the same PIN across multiple devices. Otherwise, if one gets compromised, they all do.

Be Careful About Unidentified Missed Calls

If you don’t recognise a missed call number or an SMS number, don’t get in touch with them. Some scammers use these methods to encourage people to call or text them back. If it was a real or important call, the caller would get in touch with you another way, or call back!

Block Suspicious Numbers

If you have had a call or text from what may have been a scammer, block their number immediately. That prevents them from being able to contact you again.

Again, don’t worry that you may be blocking a legitimate caller. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Legitimate callers will find another way to contact you if they need to.

Send Unknown Callers to Voicemail

If you get a call from an unknown number, don’t answer it. Instead, let the call go through to voicemail. If they are a legitimate caller, they will leave you a message or get in touch another way.

Some sources even recommend doing this with all calls, as caller IDs can be fraudulent. If they leave a voicemail, you can then figure out their identity and get in touch if they were legitimate.

Secure Your Online Social Media Accounts

Scammers will use any methods they can to figure out your personal information. That includes hacking into your social media accounts.

Your account details include more than your favourite saved videos. It may store your phone number and address.

If you shop through the app, it may even have your credit card details. If a scammer can get into your social media accounts, they’ll have access to this information.

Other scammers hack into social media accounts to post links to different scams, like fake news links or special marketing offers. So while you may be relatively unaffected, your online friends could fall for their scams.

To avoid this, use secure passwords on all your social media accounts. Don’t use the same password across several accounts. And change them relatively frequently.

Watch Out for Unusual Payment Requests

Keeping a keen eye on your banking can alert you as soon as you may have fallen victim to a scam. If you don’t recognize a transaction, contact your bank immediately.

This also applies to payment requests. If you receive a request over the phone that seems unusual or that you don’t recognize, don’t pay it!

Rather, get in touch with the company the payment request seems to represent using their official phone number. And if you don’t even recognize the company name, leave it alone altogether.Even if you receive a call offering to stop an unusual payment request, look out for the warning signs. Take the Amazon phone scam, for example, with callers impersonating Amazon Prime staff and claiming you owe them money in a bid to get your bank info. If a call sounds suspicious, hang up immediately.

Be Aware When Shopping Online

More than 80% Australians shop online. While it’s convenient, it is also a minefield of scam websites. Some shopping ads on social media are fake. Money gets taken, but products never arrive.

Sometimes, entire shopping sites can be fake, so always make sure the shopping site is legit. Here are the best ways to make sure your online transactions are secure:

• Look for the SSL certificate in the web address
• Don’t shop on public WiFi networks
• Do some research to verify a retailer’s legitimacy (e.g. look up their reviews, contact info)
• Use your credit card when shopping online

The last point is one of the most important!

If you become a victim of scams through your credit card, your bank may be able to reclaim your money. That’s because it’s not your money they’ve stolen; it’s the bank’s! But if you use a debit card, stolen money is often gone for good.

And remember, even when shopping with a legitimate retailer, insecure WiFi connections can make your card details vulnerable to theft.

Where Can You Report Phone Scam Numbers?

Depending on what sort of scam you encounter, it’s best to report it to different places. As a start, all scams can be reported to Scamwatch. But if the scam fell under any of the following categories, contact these specific authorities too.

Banking Scams

For any type of banking scam, get in touch with your bank. They’ll check if there has been any unusual activity with your accounts. Even if there hasn’t, it’s important for banks to know how their customers are being targeted.

Cybercrime Scams

Cybercrime can include online fraud and identity theft. Report any attempted cybercrime scams to ReportCyber.

Financial and Investment Scams

Report financial and investment scams to Scamwatch. If you think you could have handed over money or details to a financial scam, also get in touch with your bank.

Fraud and Theft Scams

Report any fraud or theft scams directly to the police. Call the police at 131 444.

Cyberbullying Scams

Cyberbullying scams include image-based abuse, typical cyberbullying, and other illegal content. Report any scams of this nature to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.

Spam-Related Scams

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) manages issues with spam and telemarketing. If you get a scam call that was spam-related, such as false marketing phone calls, report it to the ACMA.

Tax-Related Scams

Scams that claim to represent the tax office must be reported to the Australian Taxation Office so they can act on info you’ve provided. And of course, if you did hand over any money or details, get in touch with your bank immediately.

Public Services Scams

For scams that impersonated Centrelink, Medicare, Child Support, or myGov, contact Services Australia Scams and the Identity Theft Helpdesk. Report it and get advice online, or call them at 1800 941 126.

More Safety and Security Tips

Avoiding scams and online safety goes hand in hand. We’ve covered some scam identification tips to get you started. But if you’d like more information, check out the “Be safe, be alert online” directory.

This quick reference guide can help you find the right agencies to contact if you need help. It’s also full of tips and tricks to keep your online data secure.

When it comes to online transactions, such as online shopping or mobile banking, you need a connection you can trust. When you need to make an unexpected transfer while you’re out of the house, don’t risk using public WiFi. Instead, use mobile data. Whether you’re looking for a small 5GB data plan (for just $10/month!) or a 100GB plan check out our data plans today.As a data provider, we take phone scams and security seriously.

We even work with HackerOne to validate any security vulnerability reports we receive.

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Circles.Life

2022-08-19

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Published 2022-08-19

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Acknowledgement of Country | Circles.Life acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this land where we work and live. We celebrate stories, culture and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders of all communities who also work and live on this land.

Acknowledgement of Country | Circles.Life acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this land where we work and live. We celebrate stories, culture and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders of all communities who also work and live on this land.

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