Scam calls on the rise

Johno Felton wants more to be done about scam phone callers.

By DANE LILLINGSTONE

ONE man is fed up over constant attempts of scams from suspicious phone calls to home telephone landlines.
Warwick’s Johno Felton said the calls had been constant for him until Telstra finally did something about it.
“These people are trying to get the old people’s money and they are trying to get the money through Telstra,” he said.
Johno said that initially he didn’t think anything was wrong with people claiming to be from Telstra and offering to cut his phone bill.
He got suspicious after they repeatedly tried to gather his personal information.
“One was from a landline in Australia; we’ll take $20 off your monthly phone bill, they told me. I checked their number and searched it online and a lot of people were reporting the same problem from that number,” he said.
Telstra said they had received over 4000 reports of scams from its customers this year. They also said that scammers trying to illegally obtain personal information were on the rise.
Some of the most common scams involve people who falsely claim to be from Telstra or another provider, and ask for remote access to a consumer’s home computer.
They usually claim it is to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. Scammers have also been known to tell consumers their home phones will be disconnected if they don’t pay a fee.
The goal of these scammers is usually to obtain personal banking information.
Johno said the problem finally stopped when he called Telstra’s Unwelcome Calls Centre and they put a trace on his phone.
“After I got the trace put on from Telstra, I haven’t had any more calls,” he said.
Johno also believed that some of the scams were related to terrorist organisations.
“It’s the war within. You have to realise that terrorism isn’t only in Syria. I’ve been told they’ll come cut your head off or blow your head off when you mention terrorism,” he said.
He said more should be done by the government to combat the calls.
“Get serious and stop the calls ripping off hardworking Australians’ money,” he said.
Customers can report telephone scammers or rogue telemarketers by calling Telstra on 1800 260 270. Telstra also provides an Unwelcome Calls Centre you can reach on 1800 805 996.