Don't fall for a scammer's phishing bait | Scamwatch

Don't fall for a scammer's phishing bait | Scamwatch



“Scammers use phishing to trick their victims into giving out
valuable personal information such as their bank account numbers,
passwords, credit card numbers or even their online passwords for their
PayPal, Apple or social media accounts. Any personal information you
have is potentially valuable to a scammer and they will try to get it
off you in a variety of ways,” ACCC Acting Chair Delia Rickard said.





“The vast majority come either via the phone or email. The scammers
will pretend to be representatives of well-known organisations, like a
bank, phone company or government department like Centrelink or the
Australian Tax Office to give them the air of legitimacy.”





“The scammer may say that the bank or organisation is verifying
customer records due to a technical error that wiped out customer data.
Or, they may ask you to fill out a customer survey and offer a prize for
participating. These are all part of a scammer’s bag of tricks they use
to get you to give up your valuable personal data,” Ms Rickard said.





Scammers can use their victims’ personal information to carry out
fraudulent activities, such as using their credit cards, stealing their
identity or scamming friends and family of the victim. Many victim
reports to Scamwatch, for example, say they noticed a large increase in
spam emails after phishing scammers obtained some of their personal
information.