Yahoo Finance Warning over Commonwealth Bank text that could cost you thousands
CBA has issued a warning about a new scam text message targeting customers.
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) customers are being targeted by a new scam text message, and recipients are being warned to delete the message immediately.
CBA said it was aware of a circulating text message scam pretending to be from the major bank, giving customers a fake “security alert”.
“The text requests recipients to click a link to secure their account. These are not legitimate CommBank communications. Do not click the links, call or reply to the sender,” CBA said.
Have you fallen victim to a scam? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com
“We will never ask you to log on or provide sensitive information via a link in an email or SMS. If received, DELETE IMMEDIATELY.”
The text appears to be sent by “CommBank” and tells customers they need to contact the bank “ASAP” about the potential security breach.
CBA urged customers to stop, check and reject calls, emails and messages that looked suspicious.
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Customers who are unsure whether a message is legitimate can contact the bank via the CommBank app or visit a branch to get in-person assistance.
To be safe, CBA said customers should always navigate directly to NetBank themselves and log on, rather than clicking on any links in messages.
$11 million lost to bank-impersonation scams
Bank-impersonation scams are running rife at the moment, with AMP also warning its customers about fake text messages and calls from people claiming to be from the AMP Bank Fraud team.
Yahoo Finance recently spoke to a couple who lost nearly $50,000 in a phone call scam where the fraudster impersonated their bank - HSBC. Meanwhile, a woman lost $35,000 after receiving a call from a scammer who claimed to be from NAB’s fraud security team.
Scammers will often claim your account has been hacked and that you need to shift your money into a “safe” account or a PayID the scammer supplies. They will also ask you to share authorisation codes and passwords.
These scam text messages may appear in the same conversation thread as legitimate messages from the bank.
Aussies lost a staggering $92 million to impersonation scams last year, accounting for more than 70 per cent of reports made to Scamwatch from January 1 to September 30. Of those, $11 million was fleeced from customers through bank-impersonation scams.
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