Beware of scammers! The general public is continually being given this message by police, banks, government, corporate leaders and commercial operatives.
Telstra is Australia’s leading telecommunications and information company, with one of the best known brands in the country, and millions of customers.
The Express has been supplied with information that indicates some Telstra customers in this area are in danger of being ‘ripped off’ by individuals purporting to be part of Telstra.
Last week a wary Macedon Ranges family was bombarded with emails purporting to be from Telstra, and selling the message ‘Here’s Your Latest Bill’.
Initially the customer was informed “the accompanying new bill is due on the date it is set to be paid by direct debit”. The date was the same day the email was sent.
Another email arrived the same day with a similar message.
Usually the family receives a monthly bill in the mail from Telstra, and pays it at a post office, but on this occasion the legitimate bill had not arrived in the mail box.
Over the next few days there were follow-up emails, one warning that if the recipient failed to up date before October 20, this would lead to account termination. Another had an invitation to take part in a survey.
Having avoided various attempts by scammers over the years, the recipients thought this may have been Telstra changing its bill collection system across the board.
However, there were lingering doubts, and a phone call was made to Telstra seeking to confirm if the emails were legitimate.
Waiting for lengthy periods for responses is not unusual, but the 13 22 00 phone line proved to be effective.
A very professional Telstra customer service officer was able to ask the right questions, and insisted the email origins be disclosed.
This was done, and ALL were confirmed to be bogus, with the strong advice to delete them.
Full marks to Telstra!
