You can protect yourself from scam calls and online fraud by taking a few quick and easy steps:
- Protect your personal information and do not share it with unknown or unsolicited callers;
- Contact you financial institution immediately if you see any transactions on your accounts that you have not authorised;
- Change default PINs and passwords on newly acquired customer equipment;
- Select strong PINS and passwords (e.g. Not “1234” or “0000” or “password” etc.), and change them regularly;
- Lock mobile handsets with secure PINs;
- Ensure that voicemail PINs are secure;
- Disable PABX ports and features that are not used (e.g. remote call-forwarding);
- Do not respond to missed calls or SMS from unknown International Numbers, unknown Australian numbers or an unknown source;
- Block suspicious or unknown domestic or international numbers on mobile handsets and use of blocking services or products, where available, on landlines;
- Allow unknown calls to go to voicemail and then listen to any message left to ascertain if this might be a legitimate call.
For more detailed resources on how to protect yourself, see resources provided by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) at https://www.acma.gov.au/phone-scams