General News
13 June, 2024
Bendigo Bank urges scam awareness
With tax season approaching, Bendigo Bank is alerting residents to a trend in phishing scams, where scammers are sending emails and asking recipients to open an attached file to gain personal information. Bendigo Bank is reporting an upswing in the...
With tax season approaching, Bendigo Bank is alerting residents to a trend in phishing scams, where scammers are sending emails and asking recipients to open an attached file to gain personal information.
Bendigo Bank is reporting an upswing in the number of scammers targeting its customers and asking recipients to open attached HTML files to view changes to their account or to electronically sign documents.
Bendigo Bank’s head of customer protection Jason Gordons said while this type of scam has been around for decades, scammers are getting more creative in their methods.
“At this time of year, pre-tax time purchases are on the increase and email traffic peaks, so for criminals, the conditions are perfect for phishing,” he said.
“Phishing has been around since the mid-90s, and people have been warned about not opening suspicious attachments for many years. But attackers are continuously reinventing themselves.
“What’s new about these attacks is that they’re now using things like customisation, impersonation tactics and what are now viewed as uncommon file attachments, like HTML, to bypass spam filters and catch you in a time of peak activity.”
A raft of recent scam reports to the bank show emails with malicious HTML attachments and Bendigo Bank images and branding are on the rise, similar to other impersonation scams the bank has previously warned customers about.
When clicked, the HTML file may open a fake bank log in webpage or form, from which the scammer can harvest personal and secure information to access devices remotely, harvest pins and logins, or even to gain trust of the victim.
“Do not click the link or open files in these emails. It’s important to treat any link or attachment you are sent as suspicious,” Mr Gordon said.
“Bendigo Bank will never send you a HTML file. Bendigo Bank will never ask you to login to internet banking via a link sent in an email.
“If you have received a suspicious email, please forward it to phishing@bendigoadelaide.com.au for investigation.”
Mr Gordon’s advice to customers who may have fallen victim to a bank impersonation scam is to visit www.bendigobank.com.au/security immediately to report it and get support.
“Scammers will act quickly to transfer your funds. Bendigo Bank attempts to recover funds lost to scams wherever possible, but it is extremely difficult to recover money that has been transferred to scammers,” he said.
According to the Australian Government’s ScamWatch website, Australians have lost over $4.6 million to phishing scams already this year, with nearly 40,000 reports of the scam type made.
ScamWatch advises residents not to give money or personal information to anyone if they’re unsure, to ask themselves whether the message or call could be fake and to act quickly if something feels wrong.
It’s encouraged that residents contact their bank if they believe a scammer may have access to their personal information and to report the matter to ReportCyber and ScamWatch.