How can I protect myself from phone scams?

Phone scammers – don’t fall for them

Customer guidance on scam phone calls and text messages

Phone scammers cheat tens of thousands of Australians out of many millions of dollars every year, using fraudulent phone calls and text messages. They’re cunning and calculating, but you can make yourself safer by taking some simple steps.

Types of scam call and text fraud risks

Scam callers and texters almost always seek financial gain.  

  • They might try to trick you into making an immediate payment to them or an associate, or they may be trying to get enough information about you to steal your identity.
  • They may even try to fool you into giving them remote control of your computer, so they can read your emails or banking information or other confidential information.
  • If they can successfully pretend to be you, or learn your account passwords, they might steal from your bank account, buy things with your credit card, or incur other debts in your name.
  • In other cases, scammers ring your phone briefly and hang up from a premium rate number – with high call back charges – in the hope you’ll see a missed call and dial back. Then the call back charges kick in – billed to your phone account.  The scammer has arrangements to collect part of those charges at their end.
  • Especially around tax time, scammers pretend to be calling from the Australian Taxation Office, seeking information or payment of money.
  • Some scammers resort to threats e.g. they are from a government agency, and you have an overdue fine (that you didn’t know about) – and that you’ll be locked up if you don’t make immediate payment to the account they nominate.
  • Some scammers impersonate charities and seek donations, especially when a disaster or emergency is in the news.
  • There are scammers who use ‘spoofing’ tools to send you a text that appears to have come from your own handset, hoping you’ll open the message and click on a dangerous link.
  • Some scammers pretend to be from a parcel delivery company and recommend that you download certain software to track your parcel deliveries – but the software is really for giving the scammer access to your computer.
  • Some scammers pretend to be from a parcel delivery company and request payment for a parcel (you didn’t order) to be delivered.
  • Some scammers call to say you’ve won a prize and may ask for your account details so they can ‘pay’ the prize into your account.
  • Then there’s a fraud know as ‘smishing’, where you receive a message like: Nice weekend coming up. Sophie and I are going to an outdoor art show, and she asked me to invite you along. Check out the event at (a dangerous web address).
  • Other bogus texts might ‘advise’ you that your movie streaming account is about to be cancelled, and offer you the chance to keep it active by clicking on a dangerous link.
  • A scam text might congratulate you on winning a prize, which you can ‘claim’ by clicking on an included – dangerous – link.

Fraudsters are always working on new ways to phone scam, so no list of scams is ever complete.  But you can learn a lot more from official Australian Government resources like:

We especially recommend the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s publication the Little Black Book of Scams at www.accc.gov.au/publications/the-little-black-book-of-scams – dealing with phone call scams, text message scams and other kinds of scam as well.

    Reducing your risks

    You can minimise the risks associated with scam calls.

    Protect your personal information

    It’s a good rule these days that information about you should only be shared with people you trust, and for good reason.  Online, on the phone, in opening and responding to text messages or in the ‘real’ world, be discriminating in what personal information you give to strangers.

    Don’t share personal information with unknown or unsolicited callers or texters

    Has your bank or a government department ever asked your date of birth before talking about your affairs with you?  If you tell a scam caller or text messenger your date of birth, they could answer that security question as if they were you. 

    Keep all your personal details sensibly secret, especially from callers and text messengers you haven’t reliably identified.  That means name, address, date of birth, which bank you’re with etc.  Unless you know who’s asking, and why, treat all personal data secret.

    Contact your financial institution immediately, if you think a scammer has taken your money, or may be able to

    Your bank or credit card issuer may be able to stop a transaction or even reverse it, if you act fast.  They may be able to temporarily lock a card or account to protect it. 

    Change default PINs and passwords as soon as you get a new phone or other communications device

    Some equipment comes with a preset PIN or passcode (like “1111”) or password (like “Admin”).   Change these to personalised ones immediately, or a scammer might guess the PIN, passcode or password very easily.

    Choose strong PINS, passcodes and password

    Whether it’s the PIN, passcode or password for your bank account, mobile phone handset, an online store or a health fund, make sure it’s not a “weak” one that’s easily guessed, or worked out by a computer – like “1234” or “0000” or “password”, etc).

    Use your favourite search engine to search for “how to choose a strong password” or “how to choose a secure password” for a lot of good advice on what makes a secure PIN, passcode or password.

    Change PINs, passcodes and passwords regularly

    Using the same PINs, passcodes and passwords for a long time is a security risk.  For instance, when online stores are hacked, lists of their customer passwords are often sold on the internet.  If you changed your password regularly, the password being offered online may be stale before long – even before a scammer had a chance to use it. 

    Lock your mobile handset with a secure PIN

    Set your mobile handset to auto-lock after a short period of non-use, and set it to require a strong PIN to unlock it.  Even if your handset also offers face or fingerprint recognition, a weak PIN (like the current year) may let a fraudster access it with ease.

    Make sure your voicemail PIN is secure

    Does your mobile phone service or landline offer a “voice mailbox” where callers can leave messages?  It’s great to be able to check your home messages from another phone when you’re out – but not so great if a scammer can dial in and listen to them as well. 

    Voicemail services almost always use a PIN to keep out unauthorised persons, so make sure your PIN is enabled, strong and secure.

    Don’t respond to text messages or missed calls from unknown international or Australian numbers, or unknown callers

    The tricks that scammers play with missed calls are explained above.  Text messages asking for a call back can be traps in the same way.  Don’t call back.  If the caller is legitimate, they’ll leave a message.  If you think you know who it may have been, contact them by another means (e.g. email, another phone number on an official website, etc.) and check if they called or texted.

    Block suspicious or unknown international or Australian numbers on mobile handsets and use of blocking services or products, where available, on landlines

    This is also explained above.

    Let unknown calls to go to voicemail / listen to any message left / decide if this might be a genuine call

    It’s explained above how to automatically send calls to voicemail (in some cases).  If you can’t do that, you can choose to simply not answer unknown calls.  Your own voicemail message might encourage callers to leave a detailed message, so you get enough information to make an informed choice whether or not to call back.

    Talk to family or friends

    If you’re not sure about a call you have received, talk about it with someone close to you. 

    Don’t take computer actions at the request or direction of a caller, unknown emailer or unknown SMS.

    If someone on the phone whom you don’t positively trust asks you to download or install software, visit a web page, click on a link, fill in a web form or open an email – don’t do it.  They could easily be trying to trick you into giving them control of your computer, or otherwise assisting them to scam you.

    Blocking and reporting phone scams

    For information on how to block and report phone scams, see How can I block or report phone scams?

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