As the second week of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce’s Fraud Fortnight gets underway, NSW Fair Trading Minister, Linda Burney, today warned consumers to beware of scams that trick you into providing your personal details. 

Ms Burney said a spate of spam emails were hitting the inboxes of Sydneysiders’ work e-mail addresses claiming to be from St George and Wespac asking for personal banking details.

“Delete, delete, delete,” Ms Burney said.

“I cannot stress strongly enough – banks never seek personal information via email. The emails may look legitimate and can easily be mistaken as being from the bank they claim to be from. They are not. They are cunning devices to rob you of money and potentially your identity.” 

Ms Burney reminded consumers that the key message of Fraud Fortnight is ‘SCAMS TARGET YOU! Protect Yourself’ as scammers are out to deceive you. 

“The second week of Fraud Fortnight focuses on scams that deceive. Deception scams involve criminals pretending to be from legitimate companies and requesting information that will allow them to profit from their fraud,” Ms Burney said. 

“They can be very hard to spot, and are very good at making you think you have something to lose. It’s easy to panic when you are unexpectedly contacted by someone who sounds official, particularly if they say money is at risk.”

Ms Burney said it was not only banks, but government departments and internet service providers asking you to confirm or update personal details like bank account details and PINs. 

“Isn’t it ironic that the latest one I’ve seen states that in order to ensure the integrity and security of their online banking system they are asking the customer to verify their details? 

“Do not respond. Call the organisation on a known number taken from a bank statement, the white pages or their official website but NEVER use the contact details provided in the e-mail.”

To find out more about scams and to report scams visit www.scamwatch.gov.au or call SCAMwatch on 1300 795 995. Ms Burney encouraged consumers who have been the subject of scams to fill out a scams survey on the Australian Institute of Criminology website at www.aic.gov.au/research/fraud/acft/survey.html  

“Gathering this information will help agencies such as ours to improve the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of scam offenders,” Ms Burney said.

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