As read in The Adviser -Registry customers of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are being warned that scam emails purporting to be from the regulator have been sent to some customers.
ASIC has revealed that it is “aware some customers have received emails containing attachments or links to fake invoices” and is calling on customers to be on guard against any dubious emails purporting to be sent from ASIC.
It suggested that fake emails may “look different to ASIC emails and generally instruct the recipient to click a link to make a payment or download an invoice”.
The commission warned that these emails could contain “viruses, spyware or malware programs to access or steal [customer] personal information”.
ASIC commissioner John Price commented: “Scam emails often appear at busy times of the year such as holiday and tax time, when it’s easy to overlook something suspicious.”
The regulator has offered customers the following tips to protect themselves online:
- keep anti-virus, malware and spyware protection software current;
- ensure the firewall is up-to-date; and
- scan email attachments with security software before opening them, especially if they are executable (.exe) files or zip (.zip) files, as these files “are more likely to contain malware or ransomware viruses”.
The regulator has said that if any registry customer is in doubt about the authenticity of an email from ASIC, they should phone 1300 300 630 on weekdays from 8.30am to 6.00pm (local time in your state).
It added that customers can report scams to the ACCC via the Scamwatch ‘Report a scam’ page.
John can be contacted on 0749722081 or 0410433919. or email him at jwhitten@ihl.net.au or net www.ihl.net.au. John Whitten is a credit representative (CRN 399796) of BLASSA Pty Ltd (Australian Credit Licence No 391237).
