Highlights

• Ordinary people fall victim to scams every single day.
• Scammers have a range of strategies they use, so it’s important to stay alert.
• Being targeted by a scammer isn’t a reflection on your intelligence or character.
• Whether it’s phishing, payment redirection, impersonation or a relationship scam, there’s often commonalities like pressure to act fast.

One of the best ways to stay alert to scams is by talking about the topic and how to stay safe. It’s important to remember that every scam victim is a real person and that people from all walks of life have fallen for scams. It can happen to anyone, so that means EVERYONE needs to stay scam aware - both for yourself and protecting the people you care about. 

ScamWatch* recently shared some of the ways people commonly get scammed. Here’s an overview.

Phishing scam

A phishing scam sends out an unsolicited communication and tries to entice you to provide financial details. Here’s the common breakdown:

You get a text or email about an alleged purchase, like a computer or a message about a parcel that you need to make a payment for final delivery.

You don’t recognise the purchase, so you call the number in the message to find out more.

The ever-so-helpful scammer says they can stop the transaction and will pressure you to read back a verification code (because they already know some of your other financial details).

The scammer will try to make you feel panicked and time-pressured to share the verification code.

This gives the scammer the final piece they need to process a transaction and get their hands on your money.

Payment redirection scam

• A payment redirection scammer knows you’re expecting to make a payment and intercepts communication with a fraudulent payment link. Here’s a typical scenario:
• You’ve engaged a supplier to undertake a piece of work and are needing to make a payment.
• Scammers intercept communication to send you a link to make a payment.
• The link looks legitimate but redirects payment to an alternative account.

Relationship scam

• A relationship scam aims to build your trust before requesting money. It might go something like this:
• You get a friend request or meet someone through a service like an online dating platform.
• The scammer takes time to build your trust and create rapport, perhaps sending fake photos to validate their alleged identity.
• After a few weeks, they’ll claim something like an accident or other emergency that requires money and asks for your help.
• Once you’ve made the payment, you get blocked and realise you were scammed.

Impersonation scams

Impersonation scams are when scammers pretend to be someone you know, like the “Hi Mum” scam. This is what to watch for:

• You get a message that’s supposedly from someone you know, like your child.
• They claim their phone is broken and ask you to contact them on this new number.
• Then there will be claims about their bank account being frozen and needing to make urgent payments.
• Once the scammer has built trust and you’ve made an initial payment, they might escalate and ask for more money transfers, often building a sense of urgency with the requests to trigger a panicked response from you.

Want more info on avoiding scams?

It’s important to remember that scammers are highly skilled, professional manipulators who use a range of tactics to get you off your guard. Anyone can be caught in a scammer’s trap - all it takes is just a few seconds of being distracted, so it’s important to know what to watch out for. ScamWatch has a wealth of information about the latest scams, ways to protect yourself, and channels to report scams so you can help to prevent scammers targeting others in the community.

And remember the ScamWatch advice if anything feels off - Stop. Check. Protect. Genuine companies will be happy for you to take the extra time to confirm a transaction is legitimate.

Finally, strong digital habits can help you stay safe online
Here’s some of the best habits you can adopt to help protect yourself from scammers and their tactics:

1. Implement strong and unique passwords for your digital accounts.
2. Use multi-factor authentication so there’s more steps to stop scammers.
3. Keep your physical and digital files secure.
4. Install Internet security apps.
5. Avoid public Wi-Fi.
6. Manually check links in emails and messages.
7. Take the time to stop and check if a request is legitimate.
8. Sign up to a credit bureau, like Equifax, to help you monitor your credit profile and stay alert to potential identity theft, including access to a free credit report.
    

Equifax also has a range of credit and identity protection plans from as little as $9.95 a month to help you stay alert to scam and fraud risks. Please note, you can also obtain a copy of your Equifax credit report for free.
 

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore, you should consider whether the information is appropriate to your circumstance before acting on it, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a finance professional such as an adviser. Copyright © 2026 Equifax Australia Information Services and Solutions Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. ABN 26 000 602 862