We received this article from Macquarie which forms part of their scam awareness program. We feel it’s important to keep you up to date and provide some tips and information to help you stay safe against scams.
The increasing sophistication of impersonation scams is making it harder for people to identify legitimate communications, leading to a rise in this type of scam.
What’s an impersonation scam?
An impersonation scam is when a scammer contacts someone by phone or SMS and impersonates a bank or other service company. They then convince the customer to authorise transactions, make a payment, or provide personal information.
Scammers go to great lengths to look authentic. Before contacting someone, scammers do their research and have well-thought-out details at hand, such as partial card and account numbers. This level of detail allows the scammer to gain the customer’s trust as they sound more convincing.
Recently, scammers have been cold-calling people and using sophisticated scripts and techniques to sound more professional and believable. For example, scammers may introduce themselves as a Macquarie employee using names and job titles obtained on platforms such as LinkedIn to convince the customer that they’re talking to someone from Macquarie.
In 2022, Scamwatch received 14,603 reports on bank impersonations with more than $20 million reported lost. More than 90 of these reporters individually lost between $40,000 and $800,000*. It’s important to stop and consider when we’re being asked to give personal information.
What to look out for
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For more tips on how to protect yourself, visit Macquarie’s scams guide
