Warning as Coles Rewards scam text targets vulnerable Australians

Police are warning Australians not to click on any links sent in unsolicited text messages about a Coles Rewards program.

A scam text claiming to be from Coles supermarket is targeting vulnerable Australians, with police warning them to “stay vigilant”.

NSW Police shared a post to their social media on Wednesday urging people not to click on any link received from the scammers.

“COLES SCAM ALERT,” the post read.

“Stay vigilant – there’s a current scam in circulation regarding Coles rewards.

The Coles Rewards scam has prompted police to issue a warning. Picture: NSW Police

Coles has also warned customers in a website post. Picture: Coles

“Protect yourself by staying informed and do not click the link.”

People flooded the comments verifying that they too had received the text messages, typically around 1-2am.

“Yes my husband got one and he doesn’t even own a flyby card,” one user wrote.

“I’ve been getting this one like 3 times a day about telstra and Coles and optus for like 4 months now. Getting annoying I can only block so many numbers a day,” another said.

The supermarket has a detailed scam warning page on its website with examples of messages customers have received from scammers.

“Customers may receive a message saying they need to click a link and log in to the site to claim their rewards points,” the website said.

“This is a phishing message designed to obtain personal details such as passwords, credit card or banking details.”

In most cases, clicking on the link will redirect the person to a “phishing site” where the scammer will ask for personal information and use this to carry out fraudulent activities.

Coles said it would “never request personal or banking details in unsolicited communications and legitimate businesses or government agencies will never request payment in gift cards”.