Telstra Warns North Queensland Customers About Vishing Attacks

Telstra, the largest telecommunications provider in Australia, is warning its customers from North Queensland about vishing attacks.

Vishing (voice + phishing) refers to phone scams that are similar to traditional phishing attacks, in the sense that scammers use deceive users into exposing sensitive information.

Vishers usually impersonate banks or other financial institutions and are looking for financial details.

In this particular case, Telstra warned its customers about rogue phone calls from people claiming to work for the company and informing them that they are eligible for bill refunds.

According to Telstra's Country Wide Area General Manager for North Queensland, Rachel Cliffe, the scammers asked victims for their driver's licence, passport details, home address and other personal information.

"Telstra will never request this level of personal detail via email or over the phone and any such request should be treated with caution," said Ms. Cliffe.

"It is disturbing to hear these reports and we're keen to ensure customers are careful not to share personal details unnecessarily.

"Customers should take steps to ensure they are being approached by a legitimate Telstra representative or department before passing on their personal details," she added.

The number of phone scams has increased in recent times. Australians have also reported fake tech support calls from people posing as Microsoft technicians.

The callers tell users their computers are infected or are experiencing serious issues and ask them to check the Windows Event Viewer.

This is the place where all Windows errors are logged. It lists all sorts of routine issues that users shouldn't normally be alarmed about, but the scammers profit from the fact that most people don't know how to interpret these reports.

They then ask them to go to a web address and download a program to allegedly fix the problem. The programs are scareware applications which generate even more alerts and warnings and ask users to pay for a license in order to fix the problems.

People are advised against providing personal or financial information over the phone if unsure of the caller's identity. Contacting the institution the caller claims to represent directly is a good way to filter out scammers.