Scam targets network users

Bunbury people are being warned about scammers using the National Broadband Network in a bid to lure unwary customers.

One Bunbury case involved a man impersonating Telstra staff aiming to sign up retirement village residents and another involved high-pressure telephone sales techniques.

Consumer Protection regional coordinator Debbie Butler said confusion around the NBN’s rollout and the eventual need to change networks had created an attractive scenario for scammers to exploit.

“What’s happening is people are getting phone calls from lots of different telecommunications providers who are exaggerating the need for something to be done,” Ms Butler said.

“It is making people feel a sense of urgency and people are agreeing to contracts with providers they don’t know.”

There is an 18 month period from when NBN services become active until the old networks are switched off.

Ms Butler said one case reported to her involved an elderly woman who gave her credit card details over the phone because she believed she was dealing with Telstra.

When she realised Telstra would already have her details and it was a different company involved, she called back to cancel but the company would not let her.

The woman then contacted Ms Butler, who listened in to a follow up call and helped her to cancel the contract.

In another case, a man was approaching people in a Bunbury retirement village while carrying Telstra identification, Ms Butler said.

A resident became suspicious when she was asked for her Medicare details and contacted the village manager who escorted the man off the premises.

Ms Butler said there was a 10-day cooling off period on all contracts and money could not be taken out of people’s bank accounts during this time.

She also said people were potentially being sold services and equipment they did not need and reminded people they had 18 months to change to the NBN.

An NBN spokeswoman urged people to be wary of scam callers and said they should contact their phone or internet company if they believed a call was suspicious.

A Telstra spokesman believed scammers were becoming more sophisticated in their methods and said any attempt to deceive customers with false information was concerning.

“This is really open to people who are not going to do the right thing and maximise the confusion for their own financial gain,” she said.

“It is really important for people not to panic and know they have got 18 months to change over,” she said.People should be very careful to not get themselves into something they may regret.”