Tahneea Hoffman is warning Aussies to watch out for a scam phone call after her friend nearly lost $4,500. (Source: TikTok\/@tahneea.h\/AAP) <\/p>\n
An Aussie woman has raised the alarm over a \u201cscary\u201d new phone call scam<\/a> where fraudsters are impersonating major bank NAB<\/a> to try and steal people\u2019s money. There has been a rise in criminals contacting people pretending to be from their bank<\/a>, and they are getting harder and harder to spot.<\/p>\n Tahneea Hoffman is urging Aussies to hang up<\/a> if they are contacted out of the blue by someone claiming to work for their bank\u2019s fraud department<\/a>. The Queensland woman told Yahoo Finance her friend had recently been caught up in a scam<\/a> and nearly lost $4,500 in the process.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember, they might know your full name, they might use all the right language and they may not even ask for any personal information or account\/password details,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will feel ‘safe’. Just hang up. And call back.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED<\/p>\n Hoffman said her friend was contacted on a private number by a man who claimed to work for NAB\u2019s fraud department<\/a>.<\/p>\n The man spent 20 minutes chatting with her, trying to gain her trust, before eventually asking her to download software from a \u2018NAB Protect\u2019 website.<\/p>\n In reality, the download allowed the scammer to gain access to the woman\u2019s computer and meant she started unknowingly sharing her screen with him<\/a>.<\/p>\n Do you have a story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com<\/p>\n The scammer<\/a> then asked the woman to log into her bank account, claiming she had been hacked and he was trying to secure her account. All the while, the scammer was able to spy on her activity.<\/p>\n She was then told she would receive a text asking her to confirm a transaction and was asked to read it out loud. This allowed the scammer to transfer $4,500 from her bank account<\/a>.<\/p>\n Luckily, the real NAB stepped in, and the transfer was flagged as being “suspicious” and made from a remote location.<\/p>\n A legitimate banker immediately called the woman and alerted her to the transaction. The woman ended up going to her bank in person, where she was able to stop the transaction.<\/p>\n NAB executive of group investigations and fraud Chris Sheehan told Yahoo Finance we were in the midst of a \u201cscam epidemic\u201d and criminals were constantly looking for new ways to scam Aussies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aussies reported more than 108,000 scams and financial losses of about $174 million to the National Anti-Scams Centre’s Scamwatch in the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n \u201cIf you speak to someone claiming to be from NAB<\/a> and they say you must download software, it\u2019s a scam,\u201d Sheehan said.<\/p>\n \u201cNAB will also never ask a customer to transfer their money to a \u2018safe account\u2019. If you have any doubt about the legitimacy of a call, hang-up and call back using the number on NAB\u2019s website.\u201d<\/p>\n NAB said it will regularly flag emergency scam trends on its NAB Security hub<\/a> and website<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last few years, we\u2019ve introduced a number of initiatives to help reduce scams impersonating NAB, including working with telecommunications companies to prevent spoofing and removing links from our text messages,\u201d Sheehan said.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing these actions we saw 89 per cent reduction in customer losses to spoofing scams impersonating NAB in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoffman also urged people never to download software or click on links.<\/p>\n \u201cNever input the website or phone numbers given over the phone, always jump on Google and get the actual website\/number and HANG UP and call them back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n “I’ve had a few workers reply on TikTok to say they’d prefer this and it actually makes their job easier. But to please, actually call back.”<\/p>\n Hoffman said scammers were becoming “near flawless” at impersonating banks.<\/p>\n \u201cThese scams are going to only get better. It’s important to share new scams, keep our older population up to scratch and look out for them the most,” she said.<\/p>\n Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n NAB’s Chris Sheehan said the bank would never call you and tell you to download software. (Source: NAB) <\/p>\n