ACCC issues banking scam warning

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed it received 14,603 reports about bank impersonation scams in 2022, resulting in more than $20 million in losses.

Losses incurred from phone and text scams also increased significantly, totalling over $169 million.

The ACCC has called for greater vigilance amid reports bank customers have lost up to $800,000 in life savings to scammers using new technology to deceive victims.

This includes making the call appear to come from the bank’s legitimate phone number or sending scam texts in the same conversation thread as genuine bank messages.

“We are incredibly concerned about bank impersonation scams because they can be so convincing, they are very hard to detect,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.

“What’s equally worrying about this particular scam, is that it is emptying every last cent out of victims’ savings accounts, with losses averaging $22,000 and more than 90 reports of losses between $40,000 and $800,000. This causes both financial and emotional devastation.

“We know of a man who lost over $500,000 after receiving a call from someone claiming to be from a major bank’s security department, wanting to know if a payment had been authorised.”

In another incident, a customer lost $38,000 after receiving a scam text message about a suspicious transaction.

According to the ACCC, customers from both large and small financial institutions have been impacted by the increase in scam activity, which generally involves evoking a sense of urgency from a victim.

“It is critical to remember that no matter how legitimate the call or message seems, a bank won’t ask you to urgently transfer funds,” Ms Lowe added.

“If you receive an SMS with a telephone number to call, do not use it. Instead, call your bank [directly] on a number you have sourced yourself.

“Likewise, hang up if you receive a call from someone claiming to be from your bank requesting you to transfer money to ‘keep it safe’. Ask for a reference number and call your bank back using contact details you have found independently.”

The watchdog has urged customers not to provide online banking passwords, one-time security codes, pins or tokens to anyone over the phone.

“Following recent mass data breaches, many Australians were encouraged to monitor their accounts for suspicious activity,” Ms Lowe said.

“Sadly, this has led to consumers acting on these scam calls and text messages out of fear that their accounts have been compromised.”