Centrelink clients who fall victim to scammers posing as staff members of the Department of Human Services (DHS) now have a helpline to call for assistance.
Announcing the initiative, the Minister for Human Services, Michael Keenan said scammers were using many tactics to extract money or personal information from unsuspecting victims and impersonating Centrelink employees was a method that was “sadly becoming more common”.
Mr Keenan said DHS had received more than 1,270 calls for help in the past six months from people who had either lost money or passed on sensitive personal information that might be used to steal their identity.
“The new helpline is there to provide advice and assistance to clients on what steps they need to take next to protect themselves from further financial loss,” Mr Keenan said.
“That can include increasing the security and identity verification settings around their Centrelink accounts, or referring them to external Agencies which specialise in assisting scam victims.”
He said the launch of the helpline served as a timely reminder to all welfare recipients about the need to remain vigilant when contacted by people asking for money or personal information such as bank account details.
“The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch service received almost 33,000 reports of threat-based impersonation scams in 2017 where people claimed to be from a variety of Government Departments,” Mr Keenan said.
“More than $4.7 million was reported lost and more than 2,800 people gave their personal information to these scammers.”
The Minister said that one current Centrelink-related scam involved a caller who claimed to work for the Agency and was seeking to recover a debt.
“The caller is aggressive and tells the victim that their benefit will be cut off within days if they do not pay up,” Mr Keenan said.
He said the new helpline number was 1800 941 126 and it was open only to Centrelink clients who were currently receiving a welfare payment.
