Rodney Stevens

The first indication Dawn Keys got that she had received a scam call about upgrading her internet connection to the NBN was when the alleged Telstra employee didn’t arrive for the appointment at her home – such was the sophistication of the scam.

The Yamba resident said when she received a phone call from a person stating they were from Telstra and were organising for the fibre-optic cable to come into her premises, she believed it was legitimate as she knew Yamba was being upgraded with fibre-optic cable for the NBN.

“They gave me the name of the person that was going to come and the time, and after about two hours on the phone my son spent organising things they required, as we wanted to get the internet connection upgraded,” she said.

“My son said, ‘I don’t know about this mum’ and I said this must be right because they are upgrading the fibre-optic cable in the area, and I’m with Telstra so it must be right.”

Mrs Keys said all contact seemed official as they asked for name, date of birth and address, just as any big company would to identify you.

All the emails we received had Telstra logos on them and seemed legitimate and Mrs Keys said they were even sent a clip where Telstra had been ordered to refund people who they had overcharged by the government.

“It looked so real all the correspondence we received by email,” she said.

Mrs Keys said she became suspicious about the caller’s authenticity when at the end of the call she was told she was owed a refund by Telstra and was asked for her bank account details.

“I said I’m sorry to tell you, but I don’t give anyone that information over the phone,” she said.

When the claimed Telstra employee didn’t arrive for his appointment last Friday as scheduled, Mrs Keys called Telstra’s complaints line to investigate why.

“I rang up and the lady looked through everything on my account and said, no Dawn there’s been no one in touch with you at all.”

“She said there’s no one coming and no record here of anyone being in touch with you, it’s a scam.”

Mrs Keys said she got straight onto her bank for the next two days to check that her account was secure, and no money was taken, which she was relieved to discover was safe.

“Everything seemed so real and legitimate, I didn’t realise it was a scam until the man didn’t turn up for the appointment,” she said.

“So, I thought it was advisable to tell people there is a scam going on in the area and they are using Telstra as their backup.”

With the prolific nature of scams today, even when they seem legitimate, the telco advises customers to verify if it is Telstra contacting you as companies or individuals sometimes contact Telstra customers claiming to be from Telstra when they’re not.

Telstra also advises customers to report the scam to abuse@telstra.com which will help the telco minimise the impact to its customers.

Scams can be also reported to the government website Scamwatch https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/