Telstra customers the new target of phishing scams. Is your 'last payment' really declined?

Telstra customers may have recently got an email urging them to update their payment information. All 18 million+ Telstra customers are at risk from this scam as it tells the recipients that their "last payment was declined".

These scams can be very persuading, with this particular reading “Our payment system has detected an invalid billing associated with your account. Your service now is scheduled for automatic termination. Please update your payment information today to avoid service interruption.”

If you were to click on the 'Check Information' button, you would be linked to a fake Telstra website that asks for your ID and password, as well as credit card details and an SMS verification. It would redirect you back to the real Telstra page. All of this is designed to steal the information you input, and since it shares a resemblance to a legitimate Telstra page; it is highly likely someone may fall prey to the scam.

As always; these emails always have some red flags that you can pick up immediately. First, it doesn't address you by name and only 'Dear Customer', and uses wonky grammar and punctuation.  If you look at the email address it was sent from too, you'll notice it isn't from a Telstra domain.

If you ever unsure about an email, the best practice is to call Telstra directly using their official support number.

This advice is universally for any email you get. Whether it be from Telstra or your bank. By calling them directly using their official hotline, the support centre on the other side will let you know very quickly if the email is legitimate or not.

As always, if you do ever end up clicking a suspicious link, or you aren't sure. You're always welcome to reach out to your local IT support and they can guide you through the next process.