Scam phone survey targets bank customers

Scam phone survey targets bank customers

2 November 2009

The latest in the seemingly endless stream of bank scams has emerged as bank customers are being urged to remain vigilant in protecting their personal details.

A new fake telephone banking survey has begun contacting Australian bank customer under the guise of being a customer satisfaction survey, which starts out as a fairly general with questions rating the last visit to a bank branch before becoming more personal about the individual banking details.

The phone scam has come to light after the Australian Bankers Association (ABA) issued a warning for all Australian bank customers. The scam itself has individuals calling bank customers and claiming that they are from the Australian Banking Association, a fraudulent variation of the Australian Bankers Association which is a legitimate organisation and bank authority. The ABA has warned that this will be a person's very first sign of a scam and should hang up immediately and alert their bank immediately who will then proceed to monitor any bank accounts in their name for any suspicious activity.

After identifying themselves, the scammers will then begin a series of questions that range from whom do you bank with and how long have you banked with them, an approach that is potentially very dangerous as people may not notice when questions become more personal.

Chief Executive of the ABA, David Bell, stated that under no circumstances will the Australian Bankers Association complete any form of such surveys and that people should be wary of any such contact.

"Two bank customers have now called us about this so-called "survey" They terminated the calls after these questions because they became suspicious.

"We are concerned, however, that if the calls had continued, the customers would have been asked for personal identification details including bank account numbers, PINs and Internet banking passwords and logins.' Mr Bell stated.

"The criminals which are running this scam could then use the information to defraud bank customers."

The ABA released a list of facts and personal details that people should never reveal to an untrustworthy or unknown source and ways to protect yourself, including:

• Date of birth, current address, driver's licence number and passport details
• PIN or Internet banking login or password
  
• Be sure to delete spam and scam e-mail, or print a copy for your own records
• Never respond to requests that ask you to call any phone numbers
• Never use the click thru options on any suspicious emails or websites, simply enter the correct address for websites into the address bar

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