Aussie woman’s urgent Australia Post warning after $23,000 close call
A glamorous singer has warned other Australians to be alert to scams after she stood to lose $23,000 by clicking a link in a text message.
Brisbane-based musician Rebecca Callander said a text message appearing to be from Australia Post asked her for a payment in order to redeliver a package.
Initially, the artist thought nothing of the message, as she expected an online package to be delivered.
The message contained a seemingly innocuous link that would lead to Australia Post’s website.
“I clicked on the link and was taken to a web page that seemed completely legitimate,” Ms Callander said Yahoo.
‘The layout, the logo, everything seemed fine.
‘I entered my details to pay the £3.80 postage charge as I thought I had made a mistake with my postcode and my parcel would be redelivered.’
Pop musician Rebecca Callander had a warning for Aussies after losing almost all her savings
She said a harmless text message purporting to be from AusPost took her to an unreliable site
The singer said she only realized something was wrong after she had already confirmed the payment.
She tried clicking on another tab on the website to find Australia Post’s contact details.
That’s when she noticed that the other tabs on the website weren’t working.
Ms. Callander quickly informed her bank of the risk, and the bank quickly blocked the transaction.
The singer feared that scammers would otherwise have had access to her savings of $23,000 in her account.
Callander said she was relieved she hadn’t lost money to the scammers, having built up the savings from years of DJing weddings.
“It’s frustrating to think that a company or platform I once interacted with probably leaked or sold my personal information. “I felt like a fool,” she said.
She knows she narrowly avoided the scam and fears others could fall prey to the sneaky scam if they aren’t careful.
Australia Post is urging customers to remain alert to text and email scams, and is asking customers to forward suspicious messages to their dedicated scam reporting email address.
‘DO NOT click on unexpected/unusual links or open attachments. Please delete the message once you have forwarded it to us,” their website says.
“If you have received a suspicious email, invoice or text message claiming to be from Australia Post, please send it to scams@auspost.com.au so we can investigate.”
The company said they will never call, text or email customers to ask for personal or financial information, to request a payment, nor will they ask customers to click on social media posts to organize couriers.
Australia Post warns Australians never to ask for financial details about links in messages
Ms Callander previously lost $4,800 of her savings in a Coachella scam when she was allegedly sold dodgy tickets to the music festival.
In April, she warned fellow consumers about the warning signs and dangers of online ticket listings and fought the alleged scammer, speaking out online and in the media.
She said the man allegedly supported independent artists and shared a personal story of racial discrimination in the music scene to entice her to buy his tickets.
She believed he was her boyfriend.
“He told me a story… about how he was discriminated against in the music industry because of the color of his skin,” she said Seven news at the time.
‘About how he gave so much to independent artists, mentored artists, and it immediately appealed to me.
“The idea of me going to Coachella with a household full of artists, backstage… are you kidding me? If you’re an aspiring star, it’s a dream come true’