A glamorous singer has warned other Australians to be alert for scams after she could have lost $23,000 by clicking on a link in a text message.
Brisbane-based musician Rebecca Callander said a text that appeared to be from Australia Post requested a payment from her in order to re-deliver a parcel.
Initially, the artist thought nothing of the message as she’d been expecting an online parcel to be delivered.
The message included a seemingly harmless link purporting to lead to Australia Post’s website.
‘I clicked the link and was directed to a webpage that appeared completely legitimate,’ Ms Callander told Yahoo.
‘The layout, the logo, everything seemed in order.
‘I entered my details to pay the $3.80 postal fee, thinking I had made an error with my postcode and that my package would be re-delivered.’
The singer said she only realised something wasn’t right after she had already confirmed the payment.
She attempted to click a different tab on the website to find Australia Post’s contact information.
It was then she noticed the other tabs on the website didn’t work.
Ms Callander quickly notified her bank of the risk, and the bank swiftly blocked the transaction.
The singer feared scammers would have otherwise been able to access her $23,000 in savings in her account.
Callander said she was relieved she didn’t lose any money to the scammers, having built up the savings over years of DJing weddings.
‘It’s infuriating to think that some business or platform I interacted with at some point likely leaked or sold my personal information. I felt like a fool,’ she said.
She knows she only narrowly avoided the scam and feared others could fall prey to the sneaky con if they weren’t careful.
Australia Post urges customers to stay alert to text and email scams, and asks customers to forward suspicious messages to their dedicated scam reporting email address.
‘Do NOT click on any unexpected/unusual links or open attachments. Delete the message once you have sent it through to us,’ their website reads.
‘If you’ve received a suspicious email, invoice or text message claiming to be from Australia Post, send it to scams@auspost.com.au so that we can investigate.’
The company said they’ll never call, text or email customers asking for personal or financial information, to request a payment, nor ask for customers to click on social media messages to organise couriers.
Ms Callander previously lost $4,800 of her savings in a Coachella scam when she was allegedly sold dodgy tickets to the music festival.
In April she warned fellow consumers of the warning signs and dangers of online ticket listings and fought against the alleged scammer, speaking out online and to media.
She said the man purportedly championed independent artists and shared a personal story about racial discrimination in the music scene in order to charm her into purchasing his tickets.
She believed he was her friend.
‘He told me a story … about how he’d been discriminated against in the music industry because of the colour of his skin,’ she told Seven News at the time.
‘About how he was just giving so much to independent artists, mentoring artists, and it just pulled me right in.
‘The idea that I’m going to Coachella with a household full of artists, backstage … are you joking? If you’re an aspiring star, that’s a dream come true,’
