The latest fad amongst phishers is calling up and claiming to be from the courts and the police.
Australian Fraud Squad detectives have today issued a warning following several reports in the past 24 hours of a 'phishing' scam targeting Sydney residents.
In each case the intended victim is asked to press a number on the phone and is transferred to a call centre, who then forwards them to another person. In a number of reported cases, that scammer has claimed to be Col Dyson(the Fraud Squad Commander).
That person requests the resident's bank account details and other verifying information for what is claimed to be a money laundering investigation.
NSW Fraud Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson, today said residents are being told their court date has been changed or they are the victim of an identity scam before the courts and should move their money to an account to protect it.
"I want to make it clear that I did not, and would not, make such calls. Furthermore, the NSW Police Force would not contact a person and tell them to transfer money into another bank account," Detective Superintendent Dyson warned.
"A Fraud Squad strike force is investigating this scam which, based on our intelligence, emanates from a similar scam which has been operating in New York."
In the cases reported to police so far, none of the residents contacted by these scammers are involved in matters before the District Court.
No doubt coming to a phone near you. The silly part is that if the bank customers were using mobile transaction authentication, they would just laugh and hang up, because it couldn't happen to them. Existing banking processes don't provide enough protection
and these calls are just what the consumer is expecting.
There will always be scammers but it's about time we made it just that much harder for them. It isn't difficult to put a process in place where both bank and government employees, including police and courts, are authenticated in their dealings with each
other.