Help & support
Learn the main types of scams your staff should be able to recognise in order to protect your business.
Scams rely on people within a business being tricked into transferring money to accounts they shouldn't. To prevent scams, we encourage the following:
Before you make a first-time payment for any amount you're not prepared to lose, call the payee using a verified phone number to check it’s really them requesting payment.
Ensure all of your accounts, especially email accounts, have strong, unique passwords and are setup with second-factor authentication (e.g. SMS).
Setup a payments approval process for your business, preferably requiring multiple approvers, with no exceptions.
Encourage a culture where staff are comfortable to question a payment instruction even if it’s from a senior executive.
Business email compromise scams target businesses of all sizes. They involve emails from a compromised email address, or emails made to look like they are from someone you know, such as:
These scams involve emails sent to you or your business with a request to make payment to a new account. This new account may be under the scammer's control, and your money could be lost. If you get an email with a request to pay a new account, or an invoice with different account details to those usually used - pause, review, reflect. Before making a payment, consider calling the sender of the email using a verified phone number.
Business email compromise scams target businesses of all sizes. They involve emails from a compromised email address, or emails made to look like they are from someone you know, such as:
These scams involve emails sent to you or your business with a request to make payment to a new account. This new account may be under the scammer's control, and your money could be lost. If you get an email with a request to pay a new account, or an invoice with different account details to those usually used - pause, review, reflect. Before making a payment, consider calling the sender of the email using a verified phone number.
Money mule scams involve being asked to transfer money on behalf of someone else. These scams may be presented as job or business opportunities. Learn how to spot them.
In a phone scam, the scammer will call, claiming to be from a well-known organisation, including government organisations, law enforcement, investment companies and law firms, Banks or telecommunication providers.
When claiming to be calling from CommBank, the scammer will most often claim to be calling from the fraud department to query some attempted payments from your business’ account. The scammer will seek to speak to the person who processes payments.
The scammer will then try to create a sense of urgency (e.g. claiming an unauthorised transaction), convincing you to disclose your credentials and one-time passcodes (token code or e-tokens) or to give remote access to your computer.
Remote access scams begin as a phone impersonation scam, then the scammer gains access to your CommBiz Service or NetBank using your own computer, through the use of remote access software.
One BEC variation that's prevalent is payroll scams. In these kinds of scams, cyber criminals impersonate employees in an attempt to trick staff into redirecting funds to the scammer. Staff working in HR, payroll or finance are most at risk.
Educating staff on how to spot these fraudulent emails will mean your business isn’t compromised and money isn’t lost. Here’s how to keep your business safe, as recommended by the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
In this type of scam, someone will contact you, usually by SMS or email, and trick you into sharing your card details or NetCode. The scammer will then enter this information into a digital wallet on another device, so they can spend your money.
It’s vital to educate your staff on what common scams look like so they can recognise them, report them and help safeguard your business from potentially costly mistakes.
How to keep your business secure in the age of remote working
Successfully scaling up your business' remote working capability requires attention to make sure the security of devices, connections, tools and people are up to scratch.
Understanding business email scams
Email scams that target business have evolved and these days often look very similar to legitimate business emails, such as an expected invoice or payment request. That's why it's important to understand how they work.
If you haven't engaged with its contents, such as clicking a link or replying to it, report it to CommBank's 24/7 Cyber Security Centre by forwarding it to hoax@cba.com.au, then delete the message.
