{"id":918619,"date":"2026-10-06T21:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918619\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T21:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:24:12","slug":"callback-scams-targeting-australians-with-new-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918619\/","title":{"rendered":"Callback scams targeting Australians with new tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Colleen received a message saying a card payment had failed and she needed to call a particular number to sort the problem out, it seemed legitimate.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t demanding she click on a dodgy link or answer an unknown phone number \u2013 just make a call.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A new variety of \u201ccallback scam\u201d is on the rise in Australia.\u00a0Graphic: Polly Hanning<\/p>\n

And Colleen, who didn\u2019t want to give her surname, wanted to resolve the issue, so she called back straight away.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, that\u2019s exactly what the scammers<\/a> wanted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey made me feel rushed and I almost fell into the trap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colleen had been targeted by what experts have dubbed a \u201ccallback scam\u201d, a type that\u2019s growing in frequency as Australians become more wary of answering strange calls and spotting shifty emails.<\/p>\n

In a callback scam, victims are told to contact a phone number \u2013 often impersonating a legitimate institution such as a bank or even a government body \u2013 to resolve an urgent issue.<\/p>\n

In Colleen\u2019s case, she was greeted by somebody apparently eager to help her resolve her payment \u201cproblem\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on the phone to the scammer and totally focused on fixing what I thought was a failed payment issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was only when my husband overheard them asking for my card details that something didn\u2019t seem right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colleen\u2019s husband, of course, had not been subjected to the same high-pressure \u201csales pitch\u201d from the scammer, but as she pointed out, not everybody hit with a callback scam would have somebody there to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully we stopped and I put the phone down. We then checked the claim for ourselves and realised there was never a failed payment in the first place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really were just a hair away from losing our money. It\u2019s frightening to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telstra cybersecurity<\/a> expert Darren Pauli said Australians were becoming \u201csavvy to scammers\u201d, particularly the garden-variety classics.<\/p>\n

But callback scams hit people in places they\u2019re less guarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scams don\u2019t need to be perfect; just enough to get past our battle hardened instincts of what a scam call, text, or email looks like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Telstra cyber-security expert Darren Pauli.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, it\u2019s up to how convincing their story is and how relevant it is to potential victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proliferation of callback scams show that the trick\u2019s working enough to become popular.<\/p>\n

Pauli said Telstra internal data showed callback scams accounted for 45 per cent of reported email scam types in 2026 already, up from 29 per cent in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that branding, logos, and professional language aren\u2019t proof of legitimacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safest approach is always to independently verify any request using official websites and apps.\u201c<\/p>\n

Scammers taking calls from everyday Australians understandably stressed about an unexpected financial demand often gain trust by acting reassuring and asking for financial or personal information to verify an account or process a payment or refund.<\/p>\n

\u201cYouGov research by Telstra found 85 per cent of Australians would prefer to resolve an urgent charge by phone,\u201d Pauli said.<\/p>\n

For Colleen, after that \u201csense of urgency\u201d cracked, she quickly understood the nature of the beast she faced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me realise these scams can happen to anyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message caught me at the right moment and seemed believable. Now I\u2019m much more cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she felt embarrassed at the time, but now she just wanted people to learn how to protect themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t feel ashamed. It can happen to anyone, these scammers are smart and they\u2019re adapting. It\u2019s not your fault if you do get caught up, but there\u2019s things you can do to protect yourself too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t act with such speed. These scams are set out so you make instant decisions. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t fall for it, go at your own pace and trust your gut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telstra cybersecurity expert Darren Pauli\u2019s tips for scam protectionFirst and foremost, be mindful of any unexpected calls, messages, or chats. If you didn\u2019t expect that person or organisation to say what they did, when they did, slow down. Give yourself time to think clearly.When you are thinking clearly, you might spot the odd-looking call back phone number, the dodgy email sender address, and other signs that we often miss when we\u2019re in a panic, distracted, or busy.Don\u2019t call any number included in emails and other messages as a rule. Promise yourself to only ever contact an organisation using information on their official website or in their official app.If you know it\u2019s a scam, call your bank immediately. Tell them everything. Then change any related passwords to something long and unique and then head to settings to turn on account multifactor authentication or passkeys, when available.If you are unsure if it was a scam, verify with the claimed organisation on official contacts, but don\u2019t sit on phone queues or wait for email replies. You are in a sprint with scammers; don\u2019t let them beat you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Colleen received a message saying a card payment had failed and she needed to call a particular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-918619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}