NSW Health is aware of a call spoofing scam which has impacted the public phone number for the NSW Ministry of Health (02 9391 9000).
NSW Health would like to assure the community we do not contact members of the public directly using this phone number, although it does take calls from members of the public.
Call spoofing allows the scammer to deliberately hide their number, and display a different (often Australian) number, increasing the likelihood that you answer the call.
Typically, these callers are located overseas and may be impersonating a bank, a government agency or a telecommunications provider to get personal or financially sensitive information for fraudulent purposes.
NSW Health has reported this matter to the relevant authorities including NSW Police.
If you receive a suspected scam call you should:
– hang up, then check if their story is real by calling the actual organisation. The NSW Ministry of Health phone line (02 9391 9000) remains open to calls from the public.
– never give out any personal or financial information
– contact your telco to seek assistance
– report the scam to ACCC’s Scamwatch: https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam
– report the scam to ReportCyber: https://www.cyber.gov.au/report-and-recover/report
– contact IDCARE (call on 1800 595 160 or visit https://www.idcare.org/) if you’ve had personal details stolen
– if bank fraud has been committed, report it to your bank or financial institution immediately and also to the police.
More information on call spoofing can be found on the Australian Communications and Media Authority website: https://www.acma.gov.au/calling-line-identification-cli…
