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Known as “spoofing”, the scam involves predatory impersonations of phone numbers of businesses in both SMS and voice calls.
The non-major bank has confirmed that this technique is currently being used by scammers to target Suncorp Bank customers.
The non-major bank stated that its customers should be alert to receiving calls or texts claiming to be Suncorp asking them to share sensitive information such as passwords or for monetary transfers.
Suncorp stressed that any unsolicited contact asking for personal information, taking action (sending money to another bank), or access to online banking should be ignored and reported to the bank.
“Our process is designed to be recovery focused and we prioritise contacting the other bank, to which the payments were sent,” the non-major bank stated.
“We know scammers shift funds quickly and we work quickly to ensure any funds that can be recovered, are secured at the other bank.
“Whilst we do take steps to recover funds that have been moved to other banks, due to the nature, speed, and sophistication of scams, this is not always possible.”
Scammers and hackers run amok in 2022
From the major data breaches of large organisations such as Optus and Medibank along with the thousands of scams reported from individuals, scammers and hackers have plagued Australians throughout 2022.
In November, Minister for Financial Services and Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones, addressed the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) on the surge of scams and data breaches seen in the country and warned that the trust of Australians can be shaken in regard to large organisations protecting their data.
Mr Jones said that in October 2022, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) had received the “highest number of scam reports for any month” in the year, with around 22,300 reports made and reportedly $50 million lost.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre saw over 76,000 cyber crime reports in the 2021/22 financial year, which revealed an increase in scams by 13 per cent.
In addition, the Assistant Treasurer stated that banks are “tempting targets” for cyber criminals and scammers.
Westpac reported that it has blocked over 700,000 attempted attacks on their internet-facing applications in August along with NAB recording more than 50 million cyber attacks from hackers on a monthly basis.
[RELATED: Surge in scams shakes trust in Australians: Assistant Treasurer]
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