Hoax emails are on the rise, according to Telstra, with high profile brands increasingly impersonated by increasingly sophisticated fraudsters.  

Telstra’s Officer of Internet Trust and Safety, Darren Kane said Telstra has received several reports from customers concerned about these emails which in some cases requested customers to enter personal information into a malicious website.

“It’s unsettling to hear of our customers being misled in this way but the reality is it’s no longer enough just to check the email address of the sender. These emails are becoming more realistic and are being sent from legitimate email addresses customers may recognise,” Mr Kane said. 

The frequency of hoaxes is also growing and it’s estimated that each year billions of hoax emails are sent around the world, designed to target customers of various brands and services. 

Mr Kane said hoaxes often evoke a sense of urgency to catch customers off-guard and that there were two common types of email hoaxes customers should watch out for.

“Many customers are probably aware of one of the most common hoaxes where an email contains an attachment designed to introduce malware onto a customer’s computer or device. These tend to be a PDF or a ZIP file,” Mr Kane said.