The Most Common Phone Scams in Australia Right Now

The caller ID says it is your bank's fraud team. Or the tax office, threatening arrest. Or a courier with a parcel you never ordered — just pay a small redelivery fee. Phone scams cost Australians dearly every year, and they work because they hijack the most human reflexes: fear, trust, and the urge to fix a problem fast. The operations behind them run on scripts, spoofed numbers, and call centres. Learn the scripts and most of these attempts die in the first ten seconds.

Bank impersonation calls

The most damaging phone scam in Australia right now wears your bank's name:

1. A text warns of a suspicious payment and asks you to confirm it.
2. Whether you reply or not, a call arrives from the bank's fraud department — with the bank's real number spoofed on your caller ID.
3. The calm, professional agent walks you through stopping the fraud: read back the code just texted to you, approve a notification, or move money to a safe account.
4. The code hands them access to your account, or the transfer goes straight to the scammer.

The big four banks — Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, and NAB — all say the same thing: they will never ask you for a one-time code, never ask you to move money to keep it safe, and never ask you to install remote-access software. If a caller claims to be from your bank, hang up and call the number on the back of your card. That verification callback defeats spoofing completely.

Parcel-delivery texts

The fake AusPost text is the scam SMS Australians see most. It claims a parcel is held at the depot, needs a small fee, or failed delivery — with a link to fix it. The link leads to a fake Australia Post, StarTrack, Toll, or CouriersPlease page that harvests card details or installs malware.

Real couriers rarely demand payment by text link, and Australia Post never asks you to pay redelivery fees through an unsolicited SMS link. If you are expecting a parcel, open the courier's official app or website and enter the tracking number yourself. Delete the text and forward it to the ACMA at 0429 999 888.

Tax-office and government threats

You owe tax, your tax file number is suspended, or a warrant has been issued for your arrest — pay now in gift cards, crypto, or bank transfer to avoid the police. Sometimes the caller claims to be from Services Australia or the police instead. Caller-ID spoofing can make it look like a real government number.

Real government agencies in Australia do not threaten arrest by phone, do not demand payment in gift cards or cryptocurrency, and generally contact you first by letter or through your official online account. Hang up, and if you are genuinely worried, contact the agency through its official published number — never one the caller gives you.

Prize, lottery, and investment pitches

You have won a lottery you never entered, a supermarket voucher, or a holiday — just pay the taxes or fees first to release your winnings. Real prizes never require winners to pay to collect. A cousin of this scam is the fake investment opportunity: a confident caller or a wrong-number text conversation that steers you toward crypto or trading platforms with guaranteed returns. Guaranteed returns do not exist, and the platform is fake.

Both versions exploit excitement instead of fear. The defence is the same: slow down, never pay to receive winnings, never invest through a platform a stranger recommended, and check any investment opportunity against the warnings on Scamwatch and ASIC's official resources.

Wrong-number and task-job scams

A friendly wrong-number text — sorry, wrong chat — turns into weeks of conversation that ends at a crypto investment or a job offer. Or you are hired for simple online tasks, paid small amounts at first to build trust, then asked to deposit your own money to unlock bigger tasks. The money and the employer vanish together.

No legitimate employer asks new hires to deposit money to start earning, and no stranger texting the wrong number is a financial adviser. Delete wrong-number conversations that turn toward money, and never pay upfront for employment.

Red flags that apply to every scam

• Urgency: today, right now, or consequences follow.
• Secrecy: do not tell anyone, the transaction is confidential.
• Untraceable payment: gift cards, crypto, wire transfers, cash by courier.
• Requests for codes: any one-time passcode someone asks for on a call or text is being used to break into an account.
• Emotional pressure: fear, excitement, sympathy — the stronger the feeling, the more you should slow down.

What to do if you already fell for one

It happens to sharp people every day; these scripts are professional products. Speed is everything:

1. Call your bank immediately on its real number and ask about freezing accounts, disputing transactions, and reissuing cards.
2. Change your passwords from another device, starting with email and banking, and switch on two-factor authentication.
3. Report to Scamwatch at scamwatch.gov.au and to ReportCyber at report.cyber.gov.au if a crime was committed.
4. Contact IDCARE on 1800 595 160 if personal details were compromised — it is Australia's free identity-support service.
5. File a police report for significant losses; banks and insurers often require one.
6. Watch for follow-up scams: victims' details get traded, and you may get calls promising to recover your money for a fee. Recovery offers are round two of the scam.

The costumes change every year — cloned voices, spoofed brands, new payment twists — but the skeleton never changes: urgency, authority, secrecy, and an untraceable payment. Break any one of those and the scam collapses.