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Warning: We've had reports of scammers using ACCC phone numbers to contact members of the public. They do this to steal personal information. The ACCC does not make calls from our reception numbers. If you receive a call claiming to be from the ACCC asking for personal information, do not provide this information and hang up. This issue is being investigated.

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11 results, showing 1 to 10

Consumers with a disability – be on guard against scammers trying to take advantage of you

…Scammers often send emails, text messages or letters to people claiming that they have won cash or a prize in a fake overseas lottery or a competition – one that they never entered in the first place. If you respond to a notification that you’ve won a lottery or competition that you never entered, you … consumers with a disability include fraudsters claiming: to represent a government authority  or well-known … . Scammers employ a range of delivery methods to contact you such as a phone call, text message, email…
18 Aug 2014
Image of woman on phone and laptop

Consumers and businesses warned of potential scams following CrowdStrike outage

… of unsolicited calls, emails or messages requesting they download a software patch or provide remote access … is warning consumers and small businesses to be wary of unsolicited calls, emails or messages requesting … bank accounts. Consumers should also be alert to unsolicited requests from individuals claiming…
20 Jul 2024
Scams awareness week. Stop scams. Speak up.

Scams Awareness Week 2021

…Laura received a text message about having a missed call and clicked through a series of links to try and access the message. Nothing immediately apparent occurred but she later began receiving replies from unknown numbers via her 101 Telstra message service. Some of the voice messages said … checked her Telstra account and saw that there were over 5000 text messages from her number at one specific time. Laura immediately called Telstra technical staff and they advised her that she’d downloaded the flubot malware from clicking the links in the original message. They helped Laura reset her phone which … Joanna received a call from a scammer claiming to be police who told her she had sent a parcel to China that had been intercepted and illegal bank cards had been found in the parcel. The scammer told Joanna she had committed financial fraud and needed to send personal information, including…
8 Nov 2021
Image showing two phones and a loveheart, with the text 'You meet a scammer on a dating app'.

Scam alert: Online dating and investment scams

…The scammer contacts you through a dating app, website or social media. After a few messages, the scammer asks you to start messaging on Google Hangouts, WeChat, Line or WhatsApp. They call or text you a lot, saying they love you or feel very close to you. This is sometimes called ‘love bombing … about online dating and investment scams. Text includes description of how the scam works, copied under … Someone you don't know contacts you through a dating app, website or social media. They show interest in developing a relationship with you, and follow this up with frequent messages expressing strong feelings for you. When you've built trust with them, they tell you about an investment scheme or platform…
12 Feb 2024

How criminals steal your identity information to steal your money

… personal or banking information are: phishing emails and text messages which impersonate banks or utility…
23 Jul 2019
Line of love hearts with a broken love heart in the middle

Have a heart-to-heart with loved ones to help stop scams this Valentine's Day

… relationship with a man who claimed to be an overseas doctor needing money for medical equipment.” “Distressing … Scammers will claim to be financially stable but ask for money. … If they met through a mobile app, they may suggest moving the relationship away to a more private channel such as phone, email, or instant messaging such as WhatsApp. By moving onto other platforms, logs of their interactions are not available to law enforcement and the platform won’t be able to delete their profile.…
13 Feb 2023
Woman with credit card looks at computer screen sadly

ACCC calls for united front as scammers steal over $3bn from Australians

… organisations to scam texts that appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages. This means now more … to phishing scams in the past year, such as “Hi Mum” and Toll/Linkt text scams, which skyrocketed by 469 per … scammers reaching consumers by disrupting phone calls, SMS, email, social media messaging or other ways…
17 Apr 2023

Beware of phone scams – 2011 Targeting Scams report

…Text messages are also commonly used by scammers to send competition or prize scams. Scammers often try to snare many people with one SMS sent en masse - this is known as spamming. Scammers may request personal details or payments in scam SMS messages. If you respond, you could also be charged at premium … Be cautious if you are contacted by someone claiming to be from government or a well known company and they request personal details or up-front payments. If you are in doubt about the authenticity of a call, don’t commit to anything. Instead hang up and call the company or government department directly…
22 Mar 2012

New twist on computer error message/virus scams: joint warning

… Australians to continue to be wary of scam calls claiming that your computer is infected with a virus or is sending out error messages. SCAMwatch, Microsoft and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) are warning Australians to continue to be wary of scam calls claiming that your computer is … You receive a scam call out of the blue claiming there is a problem with your computer. The caller claims to be from a large computer company/brand, bank, financial institution, or legitimate technical … a follow up call falsely claiming to be from an overseas government or law enforcement body pretending they…
23 Mar 2011

Computer remote access scammers now masquerading as Telstra - new twist

…News SCAMwatch has received reports of a new twist on the computer remote access scam with callers now claiming to be from (or affiliated with) Telstra or BigPond. SCAMwatch has received reports of a new twist on the computer remote access scam with callers now claiming to be from (or affiliated with … them error messages or that it has a virus. They may mention false problems with your internet…
2 Aug 2011

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