Elderly targeted in scam

HUNDREDS of Gold Coasters are being caught up in a cold-call scam where callers from “Telstra” are asking for bank account numbers.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said more than 7500 complaint about the scam had been reported nationally, about 2000 of which were in Queensland.

A Gold Coast hotspot is Clear Island Waters, where 74 residents had reported the scam.

One of those, retiree Don Watkins, 83, said he was called on Tuesday by someone pretending to be from Telstra.

The caller said Mr Watkins had been over-charged by the telecommunications company and offered to refund the money back into his account.

“I previously had run-ins with Foxtel and Telstra where I was refunded $116, so I thought why not get a little more money back?” he said.

“Then he asked if he could have my Mastercard number.

“As soon as he asked me that I woke up and I hung the phone up straight away.”

He said elderly friends regularly received dodgy calls.

“We all get scammers calling around here for some reason, maybe it’s because the name Clear Island Waters sounds flash – the scams would trick some older people,” Mr Watkins said.

ACCC acting chairwoman Delia Rickard said Mr Watkins had experienced a classic “fishing” scam where fraudsters tried to steal personal details.

Another fraud technique was asking victims to help catch other scammers by logging them into their own computers, from where personal information was then stolen.