VMA is warning customers about a surge in job scams, where fraudsters pose as legitimate employers to deceive job seekers. According to ScamWatch data for 2024, job-related scams have become one of the most common types of fraud this year, with Australians losing a staggering $8,536,115 to these scams so far. This figure is based on just 2,400 reported incidents, so the total losses are likely much higher, as many scams go unreported. 

Scammers often target job seekers through platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, email, social media, messaging apps, and job boards. These fraudulent offers can appear convincing, with scammers claiming to represent well-known companies.  

Scammers often lure victims with promises of high-paying, flexible, or work-from-home roles. Some of these "opportunities" might even claim to pay commissions for engaging with social media posts. They may request sensitive personal details like your full name, date of birth, address, or even financial information. In some cases, they also ask for upfront payments for supposed background checks, training, or equipment—all clear red flags of a scam.

How to Identify and Avoid Job Scams

• Too Good to Be True: If a job offer seems too good to be true (e.g., unusually high salaries for little work), it probably is. Scammers often lure victims with promises of easy money or unrealistic benefits. 

• Unsolicited Job Offers: Be cautious if you receive a job offer that you didn’t apply for, especially if it arrives out of the blue. Legitimate employers always interview candidates before offering jobs. 

• Requests for Personal or Financial Information: Never share sensitive personal information—such as your bank account details, passwords, or payment for supposed background checks—without verifying the legitimacy of the offer. 

• Suspicious Communication: Be wary of any communication that seems rushed, contains poor grammar, or lacks professional formatting. Scammers often send generic, poorly written emails or messages.

• Fake Websites: Some scammers create fake job portals or websites that closely mimic legitimate company sites. Always check the website’s URL to ensure it is the official site before entering any personal information. 

• Generic Email Addresses: Be cautious of job offers from email addresses that don’t use a company domain (e.g., @gmail.com or @yahoo.com) instead of an official company email address. 

• Requests for Upfront Payments: Never pay for job opportunities, training, or background checks. Legitimate employers will not ask for payment. 

• Be Mindful of Being Added to Large Chat Groups: Scammers might add you to large group chats to create a false sense of legitimacy, showing fake "job offers" and "success stories." Legitimate companies rarely use random group chats for hiring. 

What to Do If You Suspect a Job Scam

• Do Not Provide Personal Information: Never give out your personal details, banking information, or identification documents unless you're certain the job offer is legitimate. 

• Verify the Job Offer: If you receive a suspicious job offer claiming to be from VMA or another company, contact the company directly using their official website or phone number to verify the offer. 

• Report the Scam: If you believe you've encountered a job scam, report it immediately to VMA via our customer contact centre. We can help you assess whether the offer is genuine and advise you on how to proceed. 

Protect Your Personal Information:

• Always verify job opportunities through official channels, such as trusted recruitment agencies or company websites. 

• Do not respond to unsolicited job offers, and avoid sharing personal details with unknown or unverified sources. 

If in doubt, contact Virgin Money:

To report a fraud or scam, call us immediately on 13 37 39.

If you have concerns about the legitimacy of a job offer or communication, you can contact VMA directly (either via fraudandscamoperations@boq.com.au or using the details on our Contact Us page).

Report a cybercrime or cyber security incident to the ACSC via ReportCyber at www.cyber.gov.au/report, or call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 CYBER! (1300 292 371).

For more tips and resources, visit: https://virginmoney.com.au/help/privacy-and-security/fraud-and-scam-assistance

VMA would like to warn customers of a new scam trend involving third parties who contact you via a phone call posing as a legitimate organisation and request your personal information. According to the ScamWatch 2024 statistics, phone call is the second most common contact method for a scam to be initiated. Customers have reported that they are receiving phone calls from scammers who impersonate the bank or other legitimate organisations. The scammer will tell you that there is an urgent matter in relation to your accounts or products and request information from you such as your identification documents, bank or card details and one-time verification codes. They are often very persuasive and articulated in presenting themselves as a legitimate organisation representative.

How to Identify and Avoid Third Party Calls

• Unexpected Calls, Emails or Messages: Be cautious of any type of communication regarding your banking products. It is important to remember that VMA will never ask for banking specific details such as your password or login credentials.
• Check the Source: Complete an open source-search online for the name of the organisation and phone number of the third party, who have contacted you, with the words ‘scam’ or ‘complaint’, to identify scams.
• Look for Red Flags: If via phone call, look for signs of a bad phone connection, a sense of in their communication, requests for personal information including one-time verification codes and/or requests for payments to be made via internet banking or card transactions.

If You Suspect an Impersonation Scam Call

• Do Not Engage in Unsolicited Calls: If you receive an unsolicited call, hang up and check the legitimate organisations website for the correct contact information. 
• Do Not Send Any Money: Block all contacts immediately.
• Do Not Download Applications or Click on Any Links: Do not download any application at the request of a third party via an unsolicited call. If a text message is received during the call do not click on any links that may be provided.
• Report It: Get in contact with VMA via our customer contact centre to report the incident. We can advise of how to stay safe in these incidences, whether the communication is fraudulent or not and how to handle these attempts now and in the future.
• Protect Your Accounts: Never give your bank details or personal information to a third party. Do not make transactions at the request of a third party.

 If in doubt, contact BOQ:

To report a fraud or scam, call us immediately on 13 37 39.

If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of correspondence, or individuals, you can contact VMA directly (either via fraudandscamoperations@boq.com.au or using the details on our Contact Us page).

Report a cybercrime or cyber security incident to the ACSC via ReportCyber at www.cyber.gov.au/report, or call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 CYBER! (1300 292 371).

VMA would like to inform all our customers on the current trend of recovery-based scams. This scam refers to perpetrators who pose as illegitimate recovery agencies who contact you by using your information that was exposed in your previous scam. These scammers will contact you claiming that they have recovered your funds and allege that they want to return the money to you.

They will often have genuine looking documentation and present as a company that appears to be legitimate. However, the offers will usually begin with no fees or money but there is always an ulterior motive to this scam – they will start asking for fees or try to gain your personal details to use for fraudulent reasons.

How to Identify and Avoid Recovery Scams

• Unexpected Calls, letters, emails or messages: Be cautious of any type of communication regarding a recovery of money. It is important to remember that only your bank and the police can recover funds following a scam. Do not engage with companies claiming they can.
• Check the Source: Complete an open source-search online for the name of the organisation who have contacted you, with the words ‘Scam’ or ‘complaint’, to identify scams.
• Look for Red Flags: On written communication there may be spelling errors, poor wording or urgency for completion in the communication that is not normal in usual settings. Via phone call the scammers may not have the best connection, may show urgency via their tone and words and ask for personal information and payments to be made

If You Suspect a Recovery Scam Attempt

• Do not Respond or Click on Links: Stay clear from responding to emails or messages regarding the matter and hang up any phone call when recovery of past scam funds is mentioned.
• Do not send any money: Block all contacts immediately.
• Report It: Get in contact with VMA via our customer contact centre to report the incident. We can provide advice on how to stay safe from these scams, help confirm whether the communication is fraudulent and next steps on what to do now and in the future.
• Protect Your Accounts: Never give your bank details or personal information to a third party.

 If in doubt, contact VMA:

To report a fraud or scam, call us immediately on 13 81 51 (Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm AEST, and Saturday 9am-5pm AEST).

If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of correspondence, or individuals, you can contact VMA group directly (either via fraudandscamoperations@boq.com.au or using the details on our Contact Us page).

Report a cybercrime or cyber security incident to the ACSC via ReportCyber at www.cyber.gov.au/report, or call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 CYBER! (1300 292 371).

We are seeing a re-emergence of customers receiving phone calls from scammers posing as representatives of the bank. These calls will often come unexpectedly with scammers claiming to be employees of Virgin Money Australia (VMA) or other financial institutions you may have legitimate banking with.

The intent of these calls is to gain access to your personal information, which scammers will then use to attempt to access your funds. Often, these scammers present as personable and knowledgeable, and may use the following tactics to “verify themselves” as bank employees:

• Provide ‘employee numbers’ or full names
• Transfer you to a ‘supervisor’ or ‘team leader’
• Recite your personal details (which may be known from a third-party data breach or a past phishing incident)

We understand it can be difficult to identify scam calls, so it is important to know what to look out for. During these calls, scammers are generally seeking to obtain:

• Personal information including full legal name, DOB, address and phone number
• Copies of identification documentation (e.g. Driver’s License, passport, Medicare credentials)
• Internet Banking credentials, Visa Debit Card details, one-time verification codes

It is important to remain vigilant and conduct your own validations prior to engaging with any party claiming to be a representative of VMA or any other financial institution.

Unfortunately, these scam calls are prevalent and have the potential to cause substantial compromise and loss to customers. This is namely achieved by disclosing personal information and ID documents, enabling third-party access to personal devices through remote access, clicking third-party links, and/or completing payments requested by scammers.

How to protect yourself:

• If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from VMA – terminate the interaction and call the VMA Customer Contact Centre on 1800 701 997 to verify whether the contact was genuine.         
• Do not provide any personal or sensitive information over the phone, especially during an unsolicited call.
• Do not click on any third-party links or accept requests to download applications or programs to your personal devices.

We are seeing a re-emergence of customers receiving phone calls from scammers posing as representatives of the bank. These calls will often come unexpectedly with scammers claiming to be employees of Virgin Money Australia (VMA) or other financial institutions you may have legitimate banking with.

The intent of these calls is to gain access to your personal information, which scammers will then use to attempt to access your funds. Often, these scammers present as personable and knowledgeable, and may use the following tactics to “verify themselves” as bank employees:

• Provide ‘employee numbers’ or full names
• Transfer you to a ‘supervisor’ or ‘team leader’
• Recite your personal details (which may be known from a third-party data breach or a past phishing incident)

We understand it can be difficult to identify scam calls, so it is important to know what to look out for. During these calls, scammers are generally seeking to obtain:

• Personal information including full legal name, DOB, address and phone number
• Copies of identification documentation (e.g. Driver’s License, passport, Medicare credentials)
• Internet Banking credentials, Visa Debit Card details, one-time verification codes

It is important to remain vigilant and conduct your own validations prior to engaging with any party claiming to be a representative of VMA or any other financial institution.

Unfortunately, these scam calls are prevalent and have the potential to cause substantial compromise and loss to customers. This is namely achieved by disclosing personal information and ID documents, enabling third-party access to personal devices through remote access, clicking third-party links, and/or completing payments requested by scammers.

How to protect yourself:

• If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from VMA – terminate the interaction and call the VMA Customer Contact Centre on 1800 701 997 to verify whether the contact was genuine.              
• Do not provide any personal or sensitive information over the phone, especially during an unsolicited call.
• Do not click on any third-party links or accept requests to download applications or programs to your personal devices.

We are aware of a VMA branded term deposit scam where scammers are impersonating Virgin Money Australia to offer fake investment opportunities to unsuspecting victims.

Investors may be targeted from completing online enquiry forms via some third-party or comparison sites. These scammers offer the victims various term deposit opportunities ranging from 4.50% to 7.90% for a minimum deposit of $25,000.00 with an investor deadline of 1 March 2024.

Victims have reported that the scammers are very sophisticated by maintaining a regular contact with the victims and provide documentation, websites and correspondence that looks very legitimate.

 What to look out for

• Unrealistically high returns or bonds which seem ‘too good to be true’.
• Consistent pressure to invest due to the ‘risk of missing out’.
• Professional looking forms or prospectuses with either:
  • ‘lookalike’ email addresses (e.g. info@virginmoney-sydney.com)
  • non-genuine phone numbers (e.g. +61 2 5563 2000)
• Unusual requests for personal information and extensive ID documents.
• Being asked to pay funds directly into a bank account with BSB’s not belonging to VMA.

If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of correspondence, please seek independent financial advice or contact us directly (either via financialcrimes@boq.com.au or using the details on our https://virginmoney.com.au/help/privacy-and-security/fraud-and-scam-assistance/report-a-fraud-or-scam page).

We are aware that a higher influx of calls to customers requesting cash withdrawals where the callers are pretending to be representatives of the Undercover Police. The callers are targeting the elderly and vulnerable, claiming that police are working on an operation to stop a hacker inside of BOQ from stealing your money. They introduce themselves with an alias, badge/staff number and fake reference number.

The caller claims that no money will be lost as it will be re-deposited later, whilst another party pretends to be a staff member to gain your personal details including address. These callers coach you into withdrawing cash from a BOQ branch, and provide a cover story (e.g., travelling overseas, work done on the house, and terminal illness related bills).

The scammers create layers of information, fabricate scenarios and individuals to create the illusion of a sophisticated sting operation. The secret nature of the operation is reinforced by convincing you to not tell friends, family or even the Bank.

After acquiring the cash, the scammers visit your address with a duffle bag to collect the cash and then disappear.

What to look out for:

• Unsolicited and unexpected phone calls from individuals claiming to be ‘undercover police’,
• Urgency and pressure to comply with the callers demands,
• Trusted organisations like the police will never ask for payment or for members of the public to assist in police operations. Take note of the name and badge number of the officer and contact your local police station to let them know.

How to protect yourself:

• Do not disclose personal information in an unsolicited or unexpected phone call,
• Never send or give money to someone you haven’t met in person,
• End the phone call if the caller is threatening or forcing you to do something (like withdraw cash),
• If you’re felling unsure, speak to a trusted family member, friend or the bank.

If in doubt, contact Virgin Money:

If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of correspondence, or individuals, contact us directly (either via financialcrimes@boq.com.au or using the details on our Contact Us page).

Report a cybercrime or cyber security incident to the ACSC via ReportCyber at www.cyber.gov.au/report, or call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 CYBER! (1300 292 371).

For more tips and resources, visit: https://virginmoney.com.au/help/privacy-and-security/fraud-and-scam-assistance