ASIC urges consumers to be wary of cold callers claiming to represent ASIC.

These cold callers ask for your personal and financial details.

These calls are a scam, and ASIC warns anyone who is contacted to hang up and to not respond.

If you think you have been a victim of this scam or believe your account may have been compromised, you should contact your credit union, building society or bank immediately.

Executive Leader, Assessment & Intelligence, Warren Day said, ‘These scams are intended to trick you into providing your personal details. They may even pretend to be from a government agency to appear genuine and may use your information to commit other scams. We encourage the public to be cautious of calls like these. If you receive a phone call out of the blue from someone in these circumstances, no matter who they claim to be, simply hang up.'

Protect yourself

• If you receive a phone call or email out of the blue requesting your personal or banking information, hang up or delete the email and block the sender.
• Never send money or give your financial details to someone you don’t trust or know.
• If the caller or sender claims to be from a government agency or financial institution, remember that government departments and financial institutions would never ask you for your personal details via cold calls, email or text message.
• If you’ve provided your bank account or credit card details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

Report scams

You can report scams via the report a scam page on SCAMwatch or by calling ASIC on 1300 300 630.

More information

Visit ASIC's MoneySmart website for tips on how to avoid being scammed.

The Australian Government website (http://www.australia.gov.au/) is a safe portal for finding government services.