OLDER RESIDENTS WARNED TO HANG UP ON SCAMMERS AS THE NUMBER OF VICTIMS SOAR

Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury residents are being urged to hang up immediately if they receive phone calls asking for computer passwords, claiming to be from NBN.

Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman says the ACCC has reported that scammers have moved on from the old trick of telling people they had a computer virus that needed fixing.

“In a worrying twist, the scammers are now claiming to need their victim’s help to catch hackers and can become threatening, sometimes stating the victim will jeopardise their investigation or even face legal consequences if they refuse to help.

Ms Templeman said older residents in particular were falling prey to what the ACCC calls ‘remote access scams’.

“Scammers impersonate well-known businesses or the police so they can gain access to people’s computers and banking information,” she said. “They then use that access to steal their victims’ money.

“Sadly, older residents are their main target and their methods are getting more sophisticated, as reports of scams reach more than 8,000 for this year alone.

“Scammers, who most commonly pretend to be from Telstra, NBN or Microsoft, or even the police are calling residents and giving them very believable stories about why they need to access their computer.

“With the NBN soon to roll out in the lower half of the Mountains and in parts of the Hawkesbury, my office has received reports from residents worried about calls from people claiming to be from the NBN, threatening their phone service is about to be cut off.