NAB warns of pop-up SMS scam targeting Australians

Feature image above: Australians are being warned about a new scam trend involving fake pop-up SMSes that impersonates NAB and temporarily disables their phone.

26 February 2025
Scams

NAB has cracked down against hundreds of fake websites attempting to dupe and scam Aussies.

In 2024, NAB identified and assisted with the removal of almost 600 illegitimate websites trying to impersonate the bank or its products, as it ramped up its efforts to counter the prevalence of cyber threats and scams, and better protect customers.

It follows thousands of scam website take downs ordered by ASIC in the same 12-month period.

Realistic looking but phony websites are often used in phishing and investment scams to tempt people into sharing their banking and personal information, or promising high windfalls from financial products or services.

NAB has released images of the latest real-life examples of fake websites, to help educate customers and the community about what to watch out for.

An example of a pop-up SMS scam impersonating NAB.

NAB Head of Security Advisory Laura Hartley said NAB did not contact customers using pop-up SMSes.

“Pop-up SMSes – legitimately used by governments overseas to share emergency warnings – are being hijacked by criminals to rip Australians off,” Ms Hartley said.

“The current bank impersonation scam trend is focused on trying to get people to ‘call’ NAB through a fake pop-up SMS. A few years ago, text messages were much more focused on trying to get people to click a link.”

Ms Hartley, a criminologist, said pop-up SMS scams reinforced the need for a coordinated, national approach to the scam epidemic to block malicious traffic.

“It’s vital to know how to recognise the red flags of this emerging approach. The most common is a sense of urgency and a number to call, so you act quickly about a problem,” she said.

“The criminals’ goal is to reel you in and then phish you into handing over account log ins, PIN codes or to make payments.

“If you aren’t sure if it is legitimately NAB contacting you, call the bank using details you have found yourself via the website or on the back of your bank card.”

The warning comes following NAB’s efforts to tackle impersonation scams, which show losses have reduced by 65% between 2023 and 2024. Reports of bank impersonation scams also decreased by 45% in the same period.

“Two key NAB initiatives have contributed to these decreases,” Ms Hartley said.

“We worked with telcos to make it harder for criminals to infiltrate bank phone numbers and text message threads and we no longer use links in unexpected customer text messages to make it easier to recognise scam red flags.

Combined with people becoming more aware of red flags, criminals have been forced to change their approach and come up with new tactics like these pop-up SMSes.

“But there is no silver bullet. We can, and will, do more.”