Scammers use a wide variety of methods to impersonate legitimate businesses and organisations to obtain personal and private information. Known as phishing, these scam websites, emails and text messages can be difficult to spot. Try to look out for incorrect spelling and grammar, and poor layout, imagery and styling. For more information, head to the Scamwatch website.

What to do if you receive suspicious correspondence or calls claiming to be from felix?

If you receive a call, letter, email, text message or other communication that claims to be from felix and you suspect it may be a scam or hoax, get in touch with us right away.

Scam emails and text messages

If you receive an email or text message that is unknown, unsolicited or you suspect to be fraudulent including messages with a one-time code that you didn’t initiate, this is what we advise:

• Don’t reply to the SMS or email
• Don’t provide any personal details
• Don’t click on any links
• Don’t open any attachments
• Don’t call any numbers associated with the SMS or email
• Don’t share any content of the SMS or email with anyone
• Email a screenshot of the message to support@felixmobile.com.au, the date and time you received it, how many times you received it, plus your mobile number
• Report the email or SMS to Scamwatch

Scam phone calls

Felix only calls our customers from selected numbers. If you receive a phone call that you suspect is fraudulent, this is what we advise:

• Don’t give the caller any personal details and hang up
• Check that the call is coming from a number that’s not a number that we use - 02 8188 3845
• Block the caller/sender's number using your phone's built-in call rejection features or by downloading an app to restrict incoming calls and messages.
• Let the call go to voicemail and then listen to any message left to ascertain if this might be a genuine call. For more information on how to set up and manage voicemail, head to our support page.
• Report the call to Scamwatch
• Email support@felixmobile.com.au and provide the date and time you received the call, how many calls you received in total and your mobile number.

Scam websites

Scam websites can be difficult to spot. Try to look out for incorrect spelling and grammar, and poor layout, imagery and styling. If you come across a website that you suspect is fraudulent, this is what we advise:

• Don’t click on any links
• Don’t call any numbers associated with the website
• Report the website to Scamwatch
• Email support@felixmobile.com.au and provide a screenshot of the website, the date and time you accessed it and your mobile number.

Latest known Scams

Number Spoofing

Recently, we have had customers reporting their number has been spoofed. But what is Number Spoofing?

Number spoofing is where scammers will make scam calls to people, but will use a spoofed number to appear as the calling number. Typically these spoofed numbers will be mobile numbers, as people are more likely to answer a call from a mobile number than a ‘No Caller ID’ number. Historically, spam calls used to come from Private or Blocked numbers, so a call from a mobile number does look more legitimate. This is unfortunately very common and with phone applications that can easily do this and it’s very difficult to shut down.

Also, we have seen examples of scammers using spoofed numbers that are very similar to yours, but may have one different digit. For example, your phone number may end in 524, but you get a call from a number that is almost identical to yours, but ends in 525. We have also seen examples where scammers may spoof your own number to call you.

Typically, what occurs on a scam call usually involves an automated message being played, which claims to be from law enforcement, the ATO (this is very popular at the end of the financial year), or other government organisations such as Services Australia. The message may state that you owe money and need to take action immediately. On some occasions, the call may be put through to a real person, who may use pressure tactics to get personal information from you. Either way, if the message is automated or with a real scammer, pressure will be applied to get you to pay or confirm personal information.

If you receive a call like this, hang up the phone.

If your number has been used for spoofing calls, you will likely start to receive calls and SMS from people who have received calls from your spoofed number. We would advise that you ask these people to contact their own service provider to run a trace and lodge a complaint.

There are things you can do on your phone to help protect yourself against spoof calls. If you have an Apple device, head to Apple Support for more info. If you're on an Android device, head to the Google Help Center.

To find out more about this scam, head to the Australian Communications and Media Authority's website.

You can also report the scam through the Scamwatch website. 

Flubot Scam

You may have recently received an SMS message, claiming that you have had a missed call or voicemail. These messages are generated by Malware called Flubot, which spreads via SMS messages and can infect customers with Android devices on any mobile network. We have also seen variants of the Flubot message, purporting to be from a courier service asking the end user to install a tracking app through a link which will infect the device with malware. If a user clicks the link and installs the app, the malware will take over the device and send texts to the infected user’s contacts. An easy way to identify these messages is the badly spelled wording, such as:

my86 Your service provider zas sent you a nee notice: <LINK>  

wfq5cm Voicemail: You have 1 new Voicemaill (s). Go to: <LINK>

If you receive an SMS like this, do not click on the link and please forward a screenshot of the message to support@felixmobile.com.au. Delete the SMS as soon as possible. It is important to point out that just because you have received the message, this does not mean your device has become infected.

If you click on the link, you will be taken to a web page that may look like a genuine site with branding that you are familiar with. You may be prompted to install an app, so you can listen to the voicemail message. If you give permission to install the app, the Flubot malware will be installed onto your device. The malware may be able to access your contacts list and access your personal information if you use your device while infected. You may also receive texts or calls from random numbers stating that you have sent them an SMS, which you will have no knowledge of.

What should you do if you have become infected?

If you have become infected, don’t enter any passwords or log into any accounts until you have cleaned your device using the below steps.

How to clean your device

Cleaning your device using the steps below will remove the malicious software from your device.

To clean your device, you can:

• Contact an IT professional
• Download official Android anti-virus software through the Google Play Store
• Perform a factory reset of the device.
  
  
  

Performing a factory reset of your device will delete all of your data including photos, messages, and authentication applications.

At this time Apple devices are not affected, but we are aware that customers with Apple devices have been also receiving these Flubot messages.

For more information, head to the Scamwatch website.   

Covid-19

Unfortunately, during these difficult times it is business as usual for fraudsters and scammers who are using the spread of COVID-19 to take advantage of people across the country. These scams can include spam messages impersonating the Government or the ATO, and there has also been an emergence of scams related to people’s superannuation.

You can find lots of useful information regarding the latest COVID-19 scams on the Scamwatch page.

If you receive any emails or messages that you think are suspicious, please report them to Scamwatch here.

You can also forward any emails or send screenshots of any suspect messages to us at support@felixmobile.com.au.

How to protect your device?

Here are some ways to protect your device:

• Make sure to use strong PINs and passwords and change them regularly. Avoid easy to guess PINs and passwords like ‘1234’, ‘0000’ and ‘password’.
• Lock your mobile handset and voicemail with strong PINs.
• Think carefully before clicking on a link or opening suspicious emails and attachments.
• Pay attention to your app permissions (what your apps are allowed to do and access, e.g. location, call history, etc). Only allow necessary permissions.

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