Media Release

Telephone scam warning

Police wish to advise the community to be extremely cautious when taking telephone calls from people claiming to be from consumer and government offices.

A number of incidents have been reported to police recently where scammers are calling residential addresses identifying themselves as a representative of a genuine banking institution or representatives of ‘bank reclaim expert’ companies.

According to Detective Superintendent Brian Hay, the scammers call the victim and get them to recite their personal details including, full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and the banking institution they are with to give the impression they are from a genuine institution.

“These scams relate to the overpayment of tax and/or bank fees and offer a refund of these overpayments if the victim pays a fee, normally between $200 and $400,” said Detective Superintendent Brian Hay.

“The caller often asks the victim to attend a post office where the fee can be paid, usually via a money transfer service,”

“We have also seen similar scams relating to carbon offsets and want to remind the community to be extremely cautious if contacted by a person purporting to represent any bank or government organisation.”

Members of the community should not rely on the contact details provided by the caller and are instead encouraged to always conduct their own research and personally initiate contact directly with the institution or company. 

“The public is reminded to not confirm personal identification details with the caller but to report this type of scam to the appropriate authorities,” said Detective Superintendent Brian Hay.

Scams can be reported via the ‘report a scam’ page on SCAMwatch or by calling 1300 795 995.

Anyone with information which could assist police with their investigations should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au 24hrs a day. Crime Stoppers is a charitable community volunteer organisation working in partnership with the Queensland Police Service.