As is the case with most if not the majority of heavily publicised events or product, there are always devious or unscrupulous sorts looking to take advantage or make a buck out of the unsuspecting.
And the NBN's continued roll out comes with its own set of scams however the goal is largely the same, either to get hold of your money or extract from you your personal information.
These days personal information, or at least enough of it, is money in the bank!!
According to the ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard, Australians over 65 are particularly vulnerable to this brand of scam, so it's important to take note of the following and if you have elderly parents, relatives or even friends that are potentially susceptible to this sort of thing, to be aware.
NBN is a wholesale service provider, and does not sell to consumers!! - This means that you will never get a phone call from NBNco out of the blue trying to sign you up to a service over its network.
Some of the most common types of NBN scams are:
- Attempting to sign victims up to fake accounts - The scam includes ringing victims to "connect" them to the NBN network for a low price. They will often demand payment be made through iTunes gift cards.
Important Note: If someone calls you and tries to get you to use iTunes gift cards to pay for a recognised or well publicised legitimate service, its a SCAM!!!! No legitimate business uses iTunes gift cards as a method of currency!
- Scammers may call you pretending to be an NBNco representative and claim you have a problem with your computer, this ruse attempts to get you to give them access remotely to your computer to steal valuable information or to plant malicious software.
- Phishing scams are when someone calls and impersonates an NBNco representative and requests personal information such as drivers licence number, name, date of birth or even a healthcare membership number. You may be offered new hardware or some other incentive that requires your ID for "verification".
It is only possible to connect to the NBN by signing up for a plan through an authorised service provider such as iiNet, Telstra or others.
If you think you may have given out personal financial details to a scammer, alert your bank or financial institution as quickly as possible.
You can go to NBNco website to check if your home or business address is able to connect to the NBN network and see which phone and internet providers are available in your area. If you have questions about the NBN and how it will work in your home or installation with your existing hardware please don't hesitate to contact us.
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