In Australia we now have the NBN, the National Broadband Network. Everyone here has heard of it, most people have had problems with it. So scammers are using its popularity to gain people’s trust before defrauding them. Here are the most common scams that have been reported:
Signing up victims to fake accounts – a scammer rings a victim to “connect” them to the NBN for a low price. They sometimes demand payment through iTunes gift cards.
Gaining remote access to computers – a scammer pretends to be from NBN Co claims there are problems with your computer. They try to convince you to run commands on your computer to gain remote access and steal personal information, install malicious software or demand payment to fix “problems” they have discovered.
A scammers impersonates NBN Co to steal valuable personal information like your name, address, Medicare number, or driving licence number. The scammer may tell the victim they’re entitled to a new router, and say they need these personal details to confirm the victim’s identity.
If you’re not expecting a phone call and someone calls you claiming to be from any company (your bank, your network provider, your insurance company, your tax department, etc), never give them any personal information until you can confirm who they are. Get their name, tell them you’ll call them back. Hang up, look up the company’s main number on Google, call them, and ask to speak to the same person. This way you know who you’re talking to before giving out any personal information.
If you receive an unsolicited phone call asking you to run commands on your computer then it’s a scam.
Any organisation asking for payments in gift cards (e.g. iTunes cards) is a scam.
Please talk about these scams with older people, they’re more vulnerable because all of these NBN changes can be confusing.