Scammers using new trick steal money and personal information

Scammers are using new technology to clone government phone numbers and trick victims into thinking they are dealing with a trusted authority, such as the police or Australian Taxation Office.

Detective Acting Superintendent Vince Byrnes from the Financial and Cyber Crime Group urged residents to be vigilant when receiving phone calls from people asking for money or personal details. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

Detectives from the Financial and Cyber Crime Group have issued a warning to Darling Downs residents about a scam using Queensland Police Service phone numbers to legitimise government or bank impersonation scams.

New reports indicate scammers are using a practice known as caller ID spoofing, where they inappropriately manipulate the telephone network to indicate the incoming call is from a different number, in these cases a QPS number.

This scam involves victims receiving a call from what appears to be a trusted or well-known government phone number and the caller impersonating an employee from the organisation to legitimise the scam.

The scammer threatens the receiver in relation to outstanding fines or fees, like a tax debt or arrest warrant.

The scammer then demands payment to prevent action.

These type of scams are similar phishing and false billing scams which are the two most frequent type of scams.

Since the start of the year the ATO has received 66,000 reports of phishing and false billing scams, with victims losing more than $5.3 million.

While these types of scams have been doing the rounds for some time, police are concerned this version of the scam using a QPS spoofed phone number has an additional layer which may result in more members of the community falling victim.

Detective Acting Superintendent Vince Byrnes from the Financial and Cyber Crime Group urged residents to be vigilant when receiving phone calls from people asking for money or personal details.

“Police, or any other legitimate government department or financial institution, will never call you and ask for your personal banking information or payments in gift cards, cryptocurrency or money transfers,” he said.

“It is important to take independent steps to verify a caller’s identity before providing any personal information or payments of any sort, irrespective of the phone number displayed, or who a caller claims to work for.

“Please make your own inquiries if you do receive a phone call from what appears to be a police station, take down the callers details, find a number yourself and dial it in, rather than returning a call you may have missed or were directed to.”

Queensland Police officers will never:

– Contact you to ask for your Personal Identification Number (PIN) or bank details

– Ask you to transfer money out of your account

– Ask you to withdraw cash to hand over to them for safekeeping

– Send someone to your home to collect cash, cards or your PIN

– Never allow a caller remote access to your devices including your computer and telephone.

To stay up to date with the current scammer threats visit scamwatch.gov.au

Originally published as Scammers using new trick steal money and personal information