ASIC warns customers about scam emails
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued an announcement to warn its Registry customers to be vigilant of scam emails purporting to be from ASIC.
According the warning, ASIC is aware some customers have received emails containing attachments or links to fake invoices. 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.
Scammers also use viruses, spyware or malware programs to access or steal your personal information.
ASIC Commissioner John Price said, ‘Scam emails often appear at busy times of the year such as holiday and tax time, when it’s easy to overlook something suspicious.’
To help protect yourself online, some tips to keep in mind are:
- keep your anti-virus, malware and spyware protection software current;
- ensure you have a firewall and it 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. These files are more likely to contain malware or ransomware viruses.
ASIC urges that If you are in doubt about the authenticity of an email that you receive from ASIC, you can phone to the Commission to verify on 1300 300 630 on weekdays from 8.30am to 6.00pm (local time in your state).
ASIC’s MoneySmart website has more tips about protecting yourself from online scams at moneysmart.gov.au/scams
Source: ASIC
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