Thursday 10 November 2022 02:29 AM Telcos stop 800 MILLION scams from reaching Australian phones but fake Amazon ... trends now
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Telcos have stopped an incredible 800million foreign scam calls from reaching Australian numbers in the past two years, in a sure sign of the growing extent of the problem.
The revelation comes in a national Scams Awareness Week (November 7-11) that has already seen the mass leaking of data from Medibank accounts by Russian hackers.
Fraudulent calls pretending to be from online retailer Amazon are the most commonly attempted scams in Australia.
Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) head Nerida O'Loughlin said it is working with telcos to reduce scam calls targeted at their customers.
'In December 2020 we introduced new rules requiring telcos to identify, trace and block scam calls,' she said.
'To the end of September, telcos have stopped more than 800million scam calls reaching Australians.'
Telcos have stopped more than 800million foreign scam calls from reaching Australian numbers since December 2020 (stock image)
On Thursday ACMA revealed the top five phone scams currently being reported to the agency, with one of criminals pretending to be from Amazon topping the list.
People who fall prey to this swindle are tricked into revealing personal details such as bank account numbers, under threat of being charged an Amazon fee if they don't comply.
Banking and finance impersonations asking people to verify their identity with personal information after alleged suspicious activity in their account is the second most attempted scam in Australia.
Calls purporting to be from NBN Co, Telstra and eBay make up the rest of the top five frauds.
Ms O'Loughlin said consumers had to be very careful when dealing with companies in any setting.
'All five of the top reported scams impersonate
