NBN Co urges customers to be wary following dramatic rise in scam callers
NBN is a high speed network designed to reach all Australian premises with a combination of fibre, fixed wireless and satellite. Photo: Getty
NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia’s national broadband network, has urged internet customers to exercise great caution if they receive suspicious calls from people claiming to sell phone or internet services from the wholesale network provider.
The warming comes after NBN Co reported an 84 per cent jump in enquiries about suspected scams made to the wholesaler since October last year.
About 28 per cent of those calls originated from residents in NSW, 24 per cent from Victoria and 19 per cent from Queensland.
On Monday, NBN Co published on the company’s website, its top tips to avoid falling for cyber criminals impersonating the wholesale network provider.
“We urge residents and businesses to be vigilant of callers claiming to be from NBN Co requesting personal or financial information,” NBN Co’s Chief Security Officer, Darren Kane said.
He said NBN Co do not make any unsolicited calls or door knock to sell broadband services to the public.
People need to contact their preferred phone and internet provider in order to switch to the NBN.
“We will never request remote access to a resident’s computer and we will never make unsolicited requests for payment or financial information,” Mr Kane said.
NBN Co is reminding residents to not share any financial information or personal details with an unsolicited caller or door knocker trying to seek payment for an NBN service.
It also advised that people never give an unsolicited caller remote access to their computer or devices via the installation of programs.
“NBN Co does not make automated calls (i.e. robocalls) to advise of disconnections to a service. Please do not engage with these calls.
“If in doubt, hang up and call your retail service provider on their official customer service centre number to check if the call is legitimate. Do not use contact details supplied by the caller,” the company’s website advised.
More than 8.5 million homes and businesses are now able to order an NBN service from their preferred phone and internet retailer, with the rollout scaling up in Australia’s capital cities.
