Qantas customers are being urged to stay alert for an email phishing scam promising rewards of cash and frequent flyer points in exchange for participating in a survey.
On Monday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) released a statement on its Facebook page warning Qantas customers of the “sophisticated” scam.
“This is a sophisticated phishing scam that aims to steal your personal information, including your email and password, contact info and bank account details,” said the warning.
According to ACMA, the email is “cunningly crafted” and looks almost identical to a real Qantas email. It is a “reminder to be vigilant about keeping your personal information safe and secure—if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!”
The email will have the subject line ‘Customer Satisfaction Survey, Earn up to 95 AUD Plus 1,000 bonus Qantas Points*’. If you receive this email, ACMA advises that you delete it immediately.
How to spot a fake email
Scammers are becoming increasingly more cunning in creating sophisticated scams with convincing language. Be on the lookout for emails claiming to be from telecommunication companies (i.e. Optus, Telstra etc.), banking institutions (i.e. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank etc.), online payment services (i.e. Paypal, Western Union), mail companies (i.e. FedEx or Australia Post) and the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
There are two simple tricks to identifying a scam email. The first is to check the email address from which you received the email. Generally, this will be an email address unrelated to the company in question. If the email address appears to be normal, then move on to trick two.
The second trick is to hover your mouse over the linked information in the email. This will enable you to see the website URL or link to which you will be taken. If the website URL appears dodgy, don’t click through. If the URL doesn’t appear, you can always right-click on the link and press ‘Copy Hyperlink’. You can then open up any document processing program, such as Microsoft Word, and paste the link to view it in full.
For more info about how to stay safe using email, visit Stay Smart Online.
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