There’s a rise in scammers calling, emailing, or messaging people and pretending to be from their bank so that they can steal your money. 

The scammers ask you for personal or financial information, to transfer funds, or to give them a one-time security code over the phone. They often claim to be from the bank’s fraud department and might say that there has been a compromised account or suspicious transaction. 

How the Scam Works 

A scammer calls, emails, or messages you claiming they’re from the bank.  

The phone call, email, or message looks like it comes from the bank and the message may be in the same message thread as a previous legitimate banking message.  

They say they’re investigating a problem with your account, like a hacked account, suspicious transaction, or online banking outage. 

They will ask you for personal or financial information like account details or security codes and will then use your account details to steal your money. 

What You Can Do: 

• Ask for a reference number and contact your bank directly via a phone number that you find and confirm yourself. 

• Hang up if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from your bank requesting you to transfer money. 

• Don’t click on any links in an email or message on your phone, even if it looks like it comes from your bank. 

What You Should Know 

Your bank will never ask you to transfer your money to keep it safe. 

Your bank will never ask you over the phone for online banking passwords, one-time security codes, PINs, or tokens. 

If You’ve Been Affected 

If you’ve had money stolen, contact your bank or financial institution immediately. 

If you’ve had personal information stolen or need help to recover from a scam, contact IDCARE on 1800 595 160. 

Help others by reporting scams to Scamwatch.