One of Australia’s big four banks has issued a warning about a new text scam that is trying to rob its customers of their personal details and cash.
Westpac urged its customers to be aware of text scams that are circulating, which claim customers’ Westpac Protect SMS Code mobile number has been changed.
Westpac uses the Protect SMS phone number to deliver a temporary code that helps to ensure only the customer can confirm certain transactions and changes to their account.
Scammers, however, have begun impersonating the bank, sending texts to Westpac customers claiming their contact number has been changed.
The scammer then encourages their target to call a separate number to fix the phony error.
Westpac advised its customers to be aware of the scam and urged them not to call the phone number provided.
“Scammers often use genuine wording from organisations in an attempt to appear legitimate, but make small changes to links or phone numbers to avoid recipients identifying the scam,” the bank said in a statement.
“Be aware — if you call the number in this message, you will not be speaking with Westpac. It will be a scammer.
“They are likely to request your personal or banking information. Do not provide any of this information. Just hang up.”
Customers were also reminded never to share their Online Banking Security Codes with a third party, not even Westpac.
“We will never ask you for this information,” the bank said.
Westpac has a scam monitoring centre where customers can report suspected scams.
Aussies lost a staggering $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, and text messages were the most common method used by scammers.
The record loss was 80 per cent higher than the amount that was lost in 2021, despite the number of reports to Scamwatch dropping by a 16.5 per cent, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Targeting Scams report.
Almost 80,000 Aussies reported receiving a scam text message in 2022, up 18.8 per cent from the previous year.