Bank impersonation scams have been a common tactic among fraudsters over the past 12 months.
This type of scam typically involves a scammer gaining access to a member’s contact information and then contacting these members pretending to be staff from their financial institution or their fraud department. The scammer’s objective is to establish trust with the member, ultimately persuading them to disclose their One-Time Password (OTP) information to facilitate unauthorised transactions that benefit the scammer. A recent variation of this scam has emerged, involving the impersonation of bank staff who go a step further by arranging face-to-face meetings with the targeted members.
Instances of this new approach include:
- Scammers impersonating a Branch Manager, notifying customers of compromised cards, and subsequently visiting them to collect the alleged compromised cards along with the associated PIN.
- Scammers convincing customers that their accounts are compromised, urging them to withdraw funds and physically hand over the cash to the fraudsters.
- At MOVE Bank, we are committed to take all reasonable steps to ensure that we protect our members from fraud and scams.
It is important to remember the following:
- We will never ask our members to withdraw funds to provide to bank staff for any reason
- Compromised cards should always be cut up and you should advise us immediately, as MOVE Bank staff will never ask to collect the cards in
the branch or in-person. - We will never ask our members to provide their card PIN in any situation
- If you’re ever unsure if a message or call from MOVE Bank is real, the safest thing to do is to contact us directly through secure messaging via Internet Banking or phone us on 1300 362 216 and we can confirm if the message was legitimate.
What to do if you’ve fallen victim to a scam?
- Most importantly, the first step is to take action. If you have sent money or shared your banking details with a scammer, contact your financial institution immediately. If you’re a MOVE Bank member, we can increase the monitoring on your MOVE Bank account and can attempt to stop or recall transactions made on your account.
The next steps are damage control – looking at what information was compromised and taking steps to protect
yourself.
A few examples of actions that could be taken include:
- Reviewing your passwords and changing any that were compromised
- Updating your anti-virus software and scanning your computer, or even having a professional perform a clean of your device
- Placing a temporary hold on your credit report
- Contacting IDCARE via their website or call 1800 595 160 if you think you may be a victim of identify theft
Did you know?
Victims of a scam are also significantly more likely to become scam targets in the future,
such as offers to recover lost funds. Be wary of potential scams especially in the near future.
