Beware of scams following recent global IT outage

22 August 2024

Following the Microsoft/CrowdStrike global IT outage last month, consumers and businesses are being reminded to be wary of unsolicited calls, emails and messages.

The National Anti-Scam Centre is warning Australians about the current threat from criminals falsely claiming to offer software patches or remote access to fix devices affected by the IT outage. Downloading unsolicited software could give criminals access to your devices and personal accounts.

Read more about this latest threat on the National Anti-Scam Centre’s Scamwatch website.

Australians reported $2.74 billion lost in over 601,000 scams in 2023, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre¹. Investment scams continue to cause the most harm, with losses of $1.3 billion in 2023.

As one of your biggest assets, superannuation can be an attractive target for criminals running scams. As you grow your super, it is important to always remain vigilant about the threat of scams.

Scams Awareness Week, 26-30 August 2024

Scams Awareness Week is 26-30 August 2024². It’s the Australian Government’s annual scams awareness and education campaign, delivered by the National Anti-Scam Centre, which was launched in 2023 to coordinate the Government’s fight against scams.

The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Share a story, stop a scam'. The National Anti-Scam Centre is encouraging all Australians to speak up, share and report scams to help others identify, avoid, report and recover from scams.

Find out more about Scams Awareness Week 2024.

For the latest information on how to protect yourself from scams, we recommend that our members visit these Government websites associated with Scam Awareness Week:

• Scamwatch
• National Anti-Scam Centre

Examples of scams and how to protect yourself

Scammers keep finding new ways to trick their unsuspecting target over email, social media, websites, SMS or phone. It’s important to stay ahead of the scammers, learn about the dangers and stay vigilant.

Superannuation is a particularly attractive target, so below are some examples of common scams and tips on protecting yourself.

1. Scammers pretending to be a financial adviser

Scammers often offer to help people withdraw money from their superannuation, often through self-managed super funds (SMSF) or for a fee. They may do this by pretending to be a financial adviser, gaining your trust to access your superannuation account on your behalf. In many cases, they will set up fake companies and attempt to transfer super balances into their own account.

Remember, you are unable by law to access your superannuation unless you satisfy a condition of release. Anyone who is advising you otherwise is acting illegally.

Tips on staying safe:

• Never give any information about your superannuation to anyone who has contacted you.
• Never share your password for your superannuation account, or any other secure services such as your bank account or myGov account (for Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink).
• Financial advisers must have a license, which you can check on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC) website.
• The ASIC website also helps you check to see if an adviser has been banned or disqualified.
• Stay ahead of the scammers and find out more about the conditions of release for your superannuation:
• Accessing Your Superannuation Info Sheet.
• Your account’s Product Disclosure Statement.

2. Email impersonation scams

Email impersonation (or phishing) scams are attempts to request personal information, by email, online or phone. They may pretend to be from your superannuation fund, bank or other financial service providers that you know.

These scams can look genuine, with the correct logo and branding. They can take you to a fake website whose web address is very similar to the real organisation’s website.

Tips on staying safe:

• Stay clear of emails and messages promoting ways to access your superannuation and invest it in lucrative investment opportunities, such as property and self-managed funds.
• Do not click on links or attachments in emails or messages claiming to be from a trusted organisation and asking you to verify or update your details.
• Be wary of websites asking for information which do not have the secure padlock symbol or ‘https’ in the web browser bar – both are needed if you are entering personal information.
• Look for mistakes in emails and messages claiming to be from trusted organisations. You may spot one of these warning signs:
• Not using your name in the greeting at the start of the message.
• Grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
• Slight differences in email address and website address.

3. Tax time SMS, email and social media scams

According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), there is an increase in scammers pretending to be the ATO, sending people SMS or emails asking them to log into a fake MyGov account³.

These fraudulent emails and web pages are designed to steal people’s usernames and passwords. They will try and trick you into opening the link through claims such as:

• ‘You have an ATO notification’.
• ‘We need to update your details to allow your tax return to be processed’.
• ‘ATO refund failed due to incorrect BSB/Account number’.

There is also an increase in fake social media accounts impersonating the ATO, asking people to send them a direct message so they can help with their enquiry.

Tips on staying safe:

• Do not open any links or provide the information requested.
• Organisations such as the ATO tend not to send SMS or emails with links to their online services.
• If in doubt, type the organisation’s web address into your browser, such as ato.gov.au or my.gov.au
• Make sure any email addresses provided to you end with ‘.gov.au’.
• For social media, check how many people are following the account.

For example, the ATO has 289,000 followers on Facebook and 262,000 followers on LinkedIn (as at August 2024). If you notice the ATO account has a smaller number of followers, then it’s highly likely that it’s a fake account.

See at the end of this article for details on how you can report a scam.

Stay informed, stay safe

There are a number of Australian Government websites that provide information and resources to help protect yourself from superannuation scams:

• National Anti-Scam Centre
• Scamwatch
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
• Moneysmart
• Australian Taxation Office (ATO)

Protecting your account with Multi-Factor Authentication

Whenever you log in to your Brighter Super account in Member Online, you must confirm a code that we send to you by your registered SMS or email.

This is Multi-Factor Authentication, is a way of confirming your identity when you sign in. It  gives your account two layers of protection – your password and a one-time code. This security feature is a mandatory setting for all members’ accounts.

If your account doesn’t currently list your email address or mobile number, you will not be able to log in to Member Online or our mobile app. To make sure you have access, you can update your contact details by calling us on 1800 444 396.

Reporting scams or fraudulent activity

If you have any concerns about your account, or identify any unusual activity, please contact us on 1800 444 396 as soon as possible. You can also report any scams you receive to the below Government agencies. Information on how to do this is available on their websites.

• Scamwatch: report a scam
• Australian Cyber Security Centre: report a cybercrime
• ATO: report a scam form