Geelong hit in police phone hack attack

GEELONG police station was caught up in a hacking attack, with members of the public receiving missed calls from mobile numbers and abusive voicemail messages or a message to call the station.

Victoria Police spokesman Sergeant Cameron Scott said “some police stations in Vic- toria have been experiencing issues with their telephone systems which is causing congestion resulting in difficulties contacting the police station”.

“The issue has been escalated to telecommunications authorities and is being investigated,” Sergeant Scott said.

It’s understood stations were affected between Saturday and Tuesday.

A now-deleted post on the Geelong Eywatch Facebook page said Geelong police station was experiencing a ‘denial of service’ attack on its telephone system.

“In most cases members of the public are receiving missed calls from many different mobile numbers,” Sergeant Scott said. “An abusive voicemail is left or a text message to contact a police station. Police are advising members of the public to disregard any abusive messages purporting to be from a police station,” he said.

“If you require police assistance urgently we recommend you dial triple zero (000).

“Anyone who receives one of these calls is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au”