The caller might claim you have committed identity fraud or registered a phone to scam other people. In many cases the call might appear to be originating from a Police Station somewhere in China.
The caller might claim they work for a shipping company like DHL. They might inform you that a package you sent has been intercepted and found to have illegal substances inside. The call may begin with an automated message stating a shipment has been delayed. Often, they will forward you on to another scammer who will claim to be a member of the Chinese police force.
They might request you download apps like Telegram, WeChat, LetsTalk, Ding Talk, or Whatsapp and update them as to your whereabouts throughout the day. Some may even request you contact them every 2 hours.
If you have received any of these communications recently– you have been targeted by a scam.
The caller will initiate contact via phone and use many social engineering tactics to appear authentic. In some cases you may receive a robo-call that prompts you to press 1 to speak to an operator – or even an SMS with details of the package that you have been accused of sending. They may tell you to lookup the number for a regional Chinese police station and will then call you from this number.
Be vigilant when receiving unsolicited calls where the caller claims to belong to a Government agency or police station. While the number may appear to be legitimate – hang up and make your own independent enquiries. Caller ID spoofing means anyone can appear to be calling from anywhere at anytime. Your own number can even be used to call you.
These callers may often request that you provide a photo of yourself holding your driver licence or passport to verify your identity. You may also be asked to disclose email addresses, phone numbers, residential address or tax details.
If this has happened to you:
For additional support or information, contact IDCARE by submitting a Get Help Form or call 1800 595 160 (Aus) or 0800 121 068 (NZ).
Identity Care Australia & New Zealand Ltd (IDCARE) provides identity and cyber security incident response services (the Services) in accordance with the following disclaimer of service:
Mon - Fri: 8am - 5pm AEST
QLD: 07 3555 5900
ACT & NSW: 02 8999 3356
VIC: 03 7018 2366
NT, SA & WA : 08 7078 7741
Mon - Fri: 10am - 7pm NZST
AKL: 09 884 4440
IDCARE as a registered charity does not ask individuals to donate or pay for our front line services. We are not a charity that can receive tax deductible donations.
We rely on organisations that care enough about you to care about us to keep our charitable service going. Proudly these organisations are displayed above and on our Subscriber Organisations page.
If you are asked for payment from someone claiming to be from IDCARE, please report this to us using our Report Phishing email.
IDCARE has access to the Department of Home Affairs Free Interpreting Service, delivered by the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National). Access to the Free Interpreting Service is provided to assist you to communicate with non-English speaking people who hold a Medicare card. Please note that the service does not extend to New Zealand citizens or residents who do not hold an Australian Medicare card, or to tourists, overseas students or people on temporary work visas.
New Zealand Relay provides services to help Deaf, hearing impaired, speech impaired, Deafblind and standard phone users communicate with their peers.
A TTY user connects to New Zealand Relay via a toll-free number and types their conversation to a Relay Assistant (RA) who then reads out the typed message to a standard phone user (hearing person).
The RA relays the hearing person's spoken words by typing them back to the Textphone (TTY) User.
The National Relay Service (NRS) is an Australian government initiative that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing and/or have a speech impairment to make and receive phone calls.
The NRS is available 24 hours a day, every day and relays more than a million calls each year throughout Australia.
ABN 84 164 038 966
IDCARE acknowledges and Respects the traditional custodians of the land on which we operate across Australia and New Zealand.
This website may contain names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori peoples.