What to do if you're contacted unexpectedly
Scams are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. Find out what to do if you're contacted unexpectedly by phone, email, or text message.
- Stop – take a moment and think before parting with your money or any of your security information such as your PIN, passwords or verification codes.
- Challenge – could it be fake? It’s okay to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try and rush or panic you.
- Protect – check with someone you trust or contact the company directly.
If you're a victim of a scam, your bank details have been compromised, or if you're simply worried about fraud on your account, please contact us.
Latest scams and what to look out for
July 2024 - Bank impersonation scammers visiting elderly Australians
We've seen an increase in a type of bank impersonation scam, specifically targeting elderly Australians. The scam begins with a phone call from a fake bank fraud team member and involves a visit to the victim's home by a fraudster posing either as a member of "the fraud team" or a courier.
The victim will get a call from someone impersonating a member of their Bank's fraud team, advising that there was fraud on their bank account.
The caller will say "a bank team member" (or courier) needs to visit the victim in person to collect the "affected debit/credit card and PIN".
Alternatively, the caller may use a convincing story to encourage the victim to make a cash withdrawal themselves, which the caller says will need to be collected from their home.
In some circumstances, the fraudsters visiting the victim's home are disguised as couriers "picking up" items. On other occasions, they may pose as "members of the fraud team".
Once the card and PIN is collected, the victim's banking card is soon used for withdrawals and/or transfers.
How to keep yourself and your family safe
Make it clear to older family members and friends that scammers are clever and no legitimate bank will ever ask you to share the PIN for your card or passwords either by phone or in person.
Remind them to never share personal information, give out their address, account, banking codes of any kind, or banking details with anyone, even if they say they are calling from the bank.
Make sure your loved ones know never to hand over their banking cards to anyone or feel coerced to make cash withdrawals for anyone, including people they feel they know.
Tell them, if they're contacted out of the blue by anyone claiming to be from their bank or any other organisation or authority, including the ATO, police and government, they should end the conversation and then:
- call yourself, a close family member or friend immediately, or
- call the bank, organisation or authority directly using the number from the official website of the bank, organisation or authority or one listed on that company's latest bill
July 2024 - Scams following CrowdStrike outage
Part of staying alert to scams means being aware that scammers will always take advantage of major events, like the recent CrowdStrike outage incident. Widespread outages and service disruptions provide opportunities for criminals to leverage the chaos with new and sophisticated scams to access your money and personal information.
- The victim will get a call from someone claiming their device has been impacted by the major event and offering support.
- The fraudster will then ask for remote access or urge the victim to download new software needed to protect their device / accounts.
- This gives the scammer access to personal information and even account info and passwords.
How to keep safe after a major event
- Be wary of anyone contacting you with offers to update or fix issues with your device/software or download unknown software patches, protective software or remote device maintenance
- Don’t call suspicious support hotlines, as these could be fake and run by scammers
- Always question uninvited contact and if you’re not sure, contact the organisation using the official site. Don't be pushed to act in a hurry
March 2024 – Investment Bond Scam
We've seen more reports of a fixed term deposit scam. We are aware of a number of our customers (and non-customers) getting this scam recently. In some cases the scammers impersonate genuine staff members. Their communications look very convincing and professional.
Criminals are obtaining your details from a fake comparison site and are then posing as employees from HSBC. Scammers will then send you fraudulent emails and brochures branded as HSBC, with offers that are too good to be true, asking you to contact them for further information. Scammers will then provide a BSB and account number for you to deposit money into. This may or may not be an HSBC account number.
Example:
- You get an email from an address that resembles "john.smith@hsbc.wealth-au.com". This is not an HSBC email address.
- The subject of the email may appear to be similar to "HSBC Bank Australia - Your Enquiry into HSBC Fixed Income". This is not a real HSBC offer.
- The emails and attached brochures are made to look like real HSBC information and use HSBC logos, images and branding. The contents of these emails and brochures talk about offers that are too good to be true to ensure they have your interest.
- When you call the number provided in the email and documents they are then connected to the scammer. The scammer will ask you to share information on what they would like to invest, and possibly ask for additional security information.
- The scammers will then provide a BSB and account number for you to deposit money into. This may or may not be an HSBC account number.
- The scammers then send a fake confirmation email.
The scammer is trying to trick you into transferring funds directly to the their account and may even provide a receipt of deposit.
Scammers may use real staff names to provide confidence to the investor should they call our contact centre or use social media to validate the staff member's name. The fake contact numbers and email will always go direct to the scammer.
February 2024 – Fake SMS Scam
Criminals are posing as your bank and sending messages asking you to call a number. Once on the phone the scammer will often then ask you share sensitive information to allow them to gain access to your account.
Example:
- Customer receives a text that says "Your transaction of 7910 AUD has been held for security reasons Please call us urgently on 6128529xxxx."
- Customer then calls the number provided and is connected to the scammer.
- On the call the scammer asks the customer to generate a code using their app to verify themselves.
In the scenario the scammer is trying to login to the customers account and requires the customers security code to gain access.
What to do if you suspect a fraud or scam
Here's what to do if you're a victim of a scam, your bank details have been compromised, or if you're simply worried about fraud on your account.
Call HSBC and press '*' followed by '1'
24/7 hotline
You can also visit your nearest HSBC branch.