Scam alert – 5 most common SMS impersonation scams

SMS scams that impersonate well-known businesses, brands, government agencies and services are a common tactic criminals use to steal your personal or financial information. Here are the 5 most common SMS impersonation scams to be on the lookout for, as reported by Australians to the ACMA.

5 most common SMS impersonation scams                   

1. Government impersonation: these scam messages claim to be from an Australian government agency such as Medicare, MyGov or the ATO and ask you to urgently update personal information, claim a refund or make a payment.
2. Parcel delivery scams: these scam messages impersonate well-known brands such as Australia Post, DHL and Amazon and ask you to arrange re-delivery of a package, update your delivery details or pay a fee to receive your parcel. These scam messages may also have strange links.
3. Toll road operator impersonation: these scam messages pretend to be from toll road operators, including Linkt, claiming that you have an overdue toll road account or insufficient funds.
4. Reward point scams: these scam messages impersonate trusted brands with well-known loyalty programs, like Coles and Woolworths. They may have links to what looks like a real website where they ask you to login, so they can try and steal your financial details.
5. Telco impersonation: these scam messages claim your rewards points will expire, or offer refunds, gifts and prizes, or say there’s a problem with your phone account such as a failed payment. Telcos that we routinely see targeted include Telstra, Vodafone and Optus. 

How to protect yourself

If you are unsure if a message or call is genuine – stop and check. Don’t rush to act:

• Do not give your personal information or send money to someone you haven’t met in person and don’t know.
• Do not click on any links in emails or texts. These may contain malware or may be phishing scams designed to steal your personal or financial details.
• Check in with family members and/or friends you trust to talk about any online request for money.

If you think you’ve been scammed, contact your bank immediately to stop any payments and tell your telco. 

Disrupting scams sent via SMS impersonating well-known brands, businesses, government departments and services is one of our compliance priorities for 2024–25. Find out more at acma.gov.au/compliance-priorities.

Scammers are criminals and they target everyone 

Help other Australians by reporting scams to Scamwatch. Scammers want you to hide or deny your experiences, or accept the blame. Reporting scams and talking about your experience helps you and others, and also informs authorities about scam activities so they can make it harder for scams to occur.

The more we talk, the less power scammers have.

The ACMA supports the government’s Fighting Scams initiative to address scams and online fraud and protect Australians from financial harm. It supports the work of the National Anti-Scam Centre, which coordinates government, law enforcement and the private sector to combat scams.