National Australia Bank removes links from text messages to protect customers against rising bank impersonation scams

National Australia Bank (NAB), one of the country's biggest banks, is taking out links from all their messages to prevent customers from clicking on the fake ones. The links have been replaced with advice to access directly the bank's website, to call the bank, or to use internet banking or the app.

Australians have lost millions to bank impersonation scams: calls that look like they come from a bank's legitimate phone number or phishing texts that impersonate their bank.

Scamwatch received 14,603 reports of bank impersonation scams in 2022, resulting in more than $20 million in losses. Total losses to all reported phone and text scams in 2022 were estimated at more than $169 million.

Don't click on the link

The safest way to bank online nowadays is to avoid links altogether because just one click on a tricky one could lead to financial losses.

"My advice is don't click on a link. If you get an unexpected text message that looks like it's from NAB and it contains a link, don't click on it.", recommends NAB chief executive Ross McEwan.

According to Catriona Lowe, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair, the average loss is $22,000, and there have been more than 90 reports of losses between $40,000 and $800,000.

Make it harder for the criminals to steal from you

Stay alert and up to date with their techniques, and keep an eye on your personal information.

Just as they can pretend to be your bank to you, they can also act like you to your bank.

Every snippet of data, from social media posts to leaked financial details, can be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle to form a comprehensive profile of an individual. This digital portrait not only grants malicious actors insights into one's life but also provides them the tools to steal, impersonate, defraud, or exploit unsuspecting victims.

With Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, you can find where your personal data is on the web. It scans the public and dark web and monitors your name, phone number, email, and other information you provide.

You can quickly view your online presence, review any past breaches, assess potential risks, and identify any exposed information, from passwords and home addresses to credit card specifics. In other words, you know what others may know about you and protect your identity.

Digital Identity Protection guides you in how to recover or delete data, what actions to take depending on the exposure, and what to do in the event of data breaches and leaks.