WE’VE all had them: phone calls at dinner time, the long delay and then the voice saying your name and telling you that they are from the taxation department and they owe you money.

Of course they need your banking details to pay the money in.

Then there are those who say you’ve won a big prize and if you pay a few hundred bucks they will send it to you.

Very few people are fooled by these types of scams these days but a trusting Margaret Sheppard from Tanilba Bay almost fell victim to an online email scammer.

“I received an email from ‘Apple computers’ asking for my code and password as they needed to update their files,” she said.

“After giving them, I felt uneasy and rang my son.”

“He told me to cancel the code and password immediately … which I did.”

“Apple told me that they don’t email and certainly never request this data.”

“I was lucky.”

Those wanting to know more about the various scams can visit: scamwatch.gov.au to keep up to pace on these rorts.

 

By Geoff WALKER