Scam awareness

Did you know that the week commencing 8 November is National Scam Awareness Week? While we have provided some handy tips/ tricks below to help prevent you from getting caught out, please also keep an eye out for some upcoming webinars that we will be facilitating with WAW in late November. Follow our socials or visit the Hume Bank website in November to make sure you don’t miss these great sessions.

Scams can be described as schemes that take money or goods from unsuspecting people. Scammers trick you into giving out personal information and they often pretend to be from a legitimate businesses or government organisations. Contact can be made by email, social media, phone call, or text message.

There are many ways you can get scammed, and we have compiled a few examples below to help you be on the lookout for any suspicious interactions:

Text Message, phone calls, social media, and email.

The latest craze in scams that we have seen a significant amount of activity on are:

Remote Access – Scams

Remote access scammers pose as well-known and trusted companies such as your bank, telecommunications provider, NBN provider or a government agency to persuade you into providing them remote access to your device and bank accounts.

Red Flags

Someone contacts you unexpectedly from a well-known business advising you of a situation such as, you have an outstanding tax debt or that your internet connection or banking security is compromised or a message may pop up on your device to warn you that a virus has been detected, with a number to call for technical support.

• Scammers often use technical jargon or quote their ID numbers to sound professional whilst creating a sense of urgency to fluster and coerce you into complying with their requests, such as installing a software application to provide them with remote access to your devices.
• If the scammer successfully accesses your devices, they will often instruct you to log into your internet banking, it is then that your screen may turn black, or you may only be able to see the cursor moving around. This indicates that there may be unauthorised transactions and your internet banking has been compromised.
• You may receive a ‘one-time password’ SMS from your bank. If you have downloaded remote access software onto your phone, the scammer will have access to this code or instruct you to read out the code. Again, this is another indication that the scammers are completing transactions with your internet banking
• Scammers will often instruct you not to turn off your computer or hang up the phone. This ensures that if your bank is suspicious of any activity on your internet banking and tries to contact you, they cannot get through.

How to protect yourself

• Never give anyone remote access to your computer if they’ve contacted you out of the blue – whether that be via a phone call, email or pop-up window on your device or computer or even if they claim to be from a well-known company, your bank or credit card provider.
• Verify the contact’s identity through an independent source, such as a phone book or an online search, then get in touch with the legitimate company directly to ask if they contacted you. Do not use the contact details provided by the caller or in the text message sent to you.
• Never send money; give your banking or card details or any other personal information to people you don’t know or trust by email or over the phone.
• Don’t open suspicious texts, pop-up windows, click on links or attachments in emails – delete them.
• If you’ve sent money or shared your personal information, banking, or credit card details, contact us and any other financial institutions you use immediately.

If you ever suspect you’ve been targeted, get in touch with us immediately on 1300 004 863, so we can help ensure you and your account remain safe.