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Impersonation scams
Scammers impersonate trusted businesses, friends or family, to steal your money or personal information.
Don’t assume a person you are dealing with is who they say they are.
Scammers trick you into thinking they are from organisations such as the police, government, banks, and well-known businesses. They can even pretend to be your friend or family member.
Scammers use technology to make their call appear to come from a legitimate phone number. Their texts appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages from an organisation.
Don’t assume a person you are dealing with is who they say they are.
Scammers trick you into thinking they are from organisations such as the police, government, banks, and well-known businesses. They can even pretend to be your friend or family member.
Scammers use technology to make their call appear to come from a legitimate phone number. Their texts appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages from an organisation.
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Steps you can take to protect yourself
- Check that a message is real by either:
- contacting the person or organisation directly using contact details you’ve found yourself on the organisations official website or,
- accessing the organisations’ secure, authenticated portal or app (never via a link).
- Immediately cut contact with anyone who tries to threaten or intimidate you.
- Don’t open or download any attachments or apps as these can install malicious software on to your computer or phone.
- Watch out for slight variations in Caller or Sender IDs like dots, special characters, or numbers.
- If someone you know sends a message to say they have a new phone number:
- try to call them on the existing number you have for them
- message them on the new number with a question only they would know the answer to. That way you will know if they are who they say they are.
- Don’t click on links in text messages or emails.
