May 2018 | Alistair Carr

IT SEEMS phone scams are on the rise again, with a couple of new variations.

One is the usual call about problems with your computer, but this time claiming to be from NBNco.

NBNco will never cold call you about this sort of problem. NBNco do not deal with retail customers, so ignore what they say and hang up no matter what they claim. Visit www.scamwatch.gov.au/news/watch-out-fornbn-scams.

The usual Telstra and Bigpond support scam calls are still doing the rounds, so keep those in mind too.

Another variation I have just come across, is a cold call claiming to be from the Do Not Call (DNC) Register telling me that I need to pay a fee via my credit card to stay on the DNC. Again, this is complete rubbish. The DNC is totally free and does not charge you to list your number on the register. In my case, the caller ID showed as being a Burnie phone number which may trap some in to thinking it is legit. It’s not. The scammers have just set up a routing service to make the call look like it is local.

Also, as it is getting close to tax time, I would expect the usual Australian Tax Office phone scams to start up again. Again these calls are fake, just hang up on them, and don’t believe a word they are saying. The ATO will not cold call you.

If you are worried about any of these calls then you could try calling the organisation they claim to be from, but do not use any number the caller may provide.

Get the phone number from the white or yellow pages or from the organisation’s web site.

Some useful numbers:

ATO - phone 132 865. 8:00am – 6:00pm Mon-Fri; for mail scams forward complete email to ReportEmailFraud@ ato.gov.au.

NBNco - ph 1800 687626 or use their web form at https://www1.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/contact-usform.html.

Do Not Call - 1300 792 958 8.30am to 5.00pm, Mon-Fri.