Phone scam alert

We have been informed that a bogus telephone survey is currently in use purporting to be from the 'Banking Association of Australia'.

The bogus survey telephone operator informs the person that they are completing a customer satisfaction survey and then asks a series of questions regarding the person's banking provider, such as:

• With whom do you bank?

• How long have you banked with them?

• Are you satisfied with the service?

These operators are also asking for account details and personal identification details. They might even contact you at a later date, pretending to be from Teachers Credit Union, and offer you a fee refund.

If this happens to you, please do not provide any details – simply hang up. If you have provided any information over the telephone, then please phone us on 13 12 21 8am to 7pm, weekdays or 9am to 3pm, Saturday.

Here are some simple tips to protect your financial identity:

• Don't provide your PIN or Internet banking login or password to anyone;

• Guard the following identity information carefully and only provide to trusted people and entities:

1. date of birth;
2. current address;
3. driver’s licence number; and
4. passport details.

• Delete spam and scam e-mail – if the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is;

• Keep your anti-virus and firewall software up-to-date;

• Do not respond to requests that ask you to call unknown or unverified phone numbers. Generally only trust numbers that appear on the back of your cards, or can be verified through a phone directory or other trusted source; and

• Be very careful about clicking on links in e-mails. Do not use links to access websites. Enter the correct address (URL) for websites into the address bar of your browser.

For more information, please refer to our Security pages.