Sophisticated. Traumatic. Upsetting. That's how NAB customer Chloe* describes being the victim of a spoofing scam.
Sunshine Coast cleaner and mum Chloe is sharing her story to help other Australians see through scams.
Like millions of other Aussies, Chloe received a text message from criminals which looked to be from a legitimate company, in this case NAB, claiming a payment had been paused and asking her to call a phone number to verify it.
Chloe said she called the number via a link in the text message and spoke to a man who claimed he was from NAB's fraud team.
"He was very convincing, and I believed I was speaking to the real deal," she said.
"I ended up handing over my NAB ID and security codes which he said he needed to access my account to reset my daily limit and stop the funds from leaving my account. It was actually the opposite.
"While I was on the phone, NAB's genuine fraud and scam team was trying to contact me.
"When they got on to me the penny dropped - I was now speaking with the real NAB team. I had been scammed and the funds had left the account."
While Chloe knows she was one of the lucky ones whose money was recovered, she welcomed NAB's new campaign to help customers see through scams.
It comes after NAB took action recently to help stop spoofing - also known as impersonation - scams.
"It's good to see NAB doing more to protect customers and I think anything organisations can do to stop scams will benefit the community," Chloe said.
"Scammers play sophisticated psychological tricks to fool you, and this has been a very traumatic ordeal.
"Question every unsolicited approach and read every letter before making the choice to respond or call."
NAB Executive, Retail Krissie Jones said more than a third of Australians had been a victim of a cyber-attack or scam, losing, on average, $569.
"According to our research commissioned for our see through scams campaign, women lost, on average, significantly more ($921) than men ($375)," Ms Jones said.
"While one in three Aussies were "very concerned" about scams and cyber-attacks, only 10 per cent believed they had "very good cyber" safety knowledge.
"Women over 50 years old appeared most vulnerable to a cyber-attack, with 30% reporting "poor" or "very poor" knowledge of cybersecurity. About a quarter of men over 65 were also at risk, due to "poor" or "very poor" knowledge."
Ms Jones said Chloe's story and the NAB Economics research highlights the distressing impacts scams can have.
"Feeling anxious, fearful, stressed or frustrated topped the list when Australians were asked about the biggest impact aside from money," she said.
"Our new campaign is designed to help Australians see through scams. Individual customers have a key role to play protecting themselves.
"Being educated and aware of the latest scams, what to look for and how to report them is critical to stopping the crime before it happens.
"Contact your bank immediately if you've been scammed. We're here to help."
