A MALUA Bay pensioner who narrowly escaped being scammed over the phone on Wednesday, July 23 has warned others to be wary of calls from fake Australian Government officials.
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Fran Trounson says a man claiming to be an Australian Government finance official had put up a convincing case that she was due more than $7000 after being overcharged in a series of shopping card transactions.
“He told me the department had checked the banks and the credit unions when I used my card at the supermarkets,” Mrs Trounson said.
“He said I had a cheque coming for $7,268 that had been overcharged on those services.”
The caller gave her a reference number and what appeared to be a Sydney landline to call.
When she phoned back, he told her the cheque would be sent when she paid a service fee of more than $160 at the post office.
Suspicious, Ms Trounson terminated the conversation and contacted the Bay Post.
The Bay Post phoned the number given to Ms Trounson and spoke to a man who identified himself as Paul Edward from the "Reclaim Department of the Australian Federal Government Ministry of Finance in Sydney".
The man terminated the call when the Bay Post queried the alleged department’s veracity.
