Media release

NT Cybercrime Unit warns of phone scam

Police

The Northern Territory Cybercrime Unit are warning Territorians about a phone scam.

Over the past few days, police have received reports from NT residents who have had calls from persons claiming to be from email providers such as Yahoo. These callers claim that someone has accessed email accounts and used it to forward child pornography material. The callers then, through threats of police action, attempt to convince Territorians to navigate to a web page and download a remote access program under the guise that the offending material can be removed from your email account.

Senior Constable Jason Corbett said, “This is simply a rehash of the Telstra Technical Support scam.”

“However, now instead of the fraudsters pretending to be from Telstra and claiming that your IP address has been compromised, the offenders claim that your email account has been compromised.”

“If you download the application, the fraudsters will have complete control and visibility of your computer. This includes any passwords stored in your web browser and any documents containing personal identifying information”.

NT Police advise that if you do receive a call:

  • Hang up on the caller;
  • Contact the organisation that they claim to be from by using trusted or known details, not the ones provided by the caller;
  • Refuse any request for remote access to your computer or to download any application;
  • Refuse to provide personal or bank account information to the caller; and
  • Refuse to transfer money from your account.

If you have suffered a financial loss through this type of fraud or other scams, you can report it to police on 131444 or go to ReportCyber tab at cyber.gov.au.