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Scams
Anybody can be scammed, and most people will be targeted at some point in their lives. Knowing what to look for and what to do if you’ve been scammed can help you stay safe or reduce the impact of a scam.
- What to do if you've been scammed
- Common scams and how to avoid them
What to do if you've been scammed
warning Current scam alert
Increased risk of phishing scams following Canvas cyber incident
Following recent cyber incidents, there may be an increase in highly convincing phishing emails, text messages, or phone calls to students.
These messages can appear genuine because they may include your name, Student ID, course details, or they could contain links that appear to relate to your classes or University systems. The phone calls or messages can appear to come from University ICT or faculty support teams.
Behaviour to look out for
- In their messaging, attackers will often create a believable story, such as asking you to reset your password, click on a link, review an assessment change or open a shared document.
- These messages are designed to appear legitimate with University branding and can appear time-sensitive, asking you to take an urgent action.
- The messages can create urgency by claiming your system access will be suspended, your assessment will be affected, your assessment details or due dates have changed, or that you must act immediately because of a cyber incident. Pressure is a tactic to encourage you to click on an unsafe link or provide information you shouldn't. Therefore you should pause and verify before you click, reply or share any personal information.
- Attackers may impersonate the Student Centre or your faculty and ask you to click a link to reset your password or unlock your account.
- Attackers may also impersonate a lecturer, tutor or another student and send messages about overdue assessments, changed submission links, shared study materials, fee issues, or urgent account verification. Because the attackers may know some relevant faculty or course contact details, the message can appear especially convincing.
How you can protect yourself
- Be especially cautious with emails, texts, calls, or messages that mention cyber incidents, that do not come from the standard contact addresses or systems, or messages that appear to require unexpected urgent action
- Pause before you respond to unexpected messages or calls. Treat urgent requests with caution, especially if they ask you to click a link, open an attachment, share a one-time code, confirm personal details or require you to log in through a message you did not expect.
- Do not use links or contact details provided in suspicious messages. Instead, go directly to the University website or Canvas through your usual bookmark.
- If you have concerns about messages you receive, forward them to ict.askcyber@sydney.edu.au.
- Make sure you always use Okta authentication when accessing systems and never approve a sign-in notification you did not initiate yourself.
- If you think you clicked a phishing link or entered your details into a fake page or gave information over the phone that you shouldn’t, act quickly. Notify the ICT Helpdesk immediately and monitor your University and personal accounts for suspicious activity.
- You will need to reauthenticate to log back into Canvas. Use the University’s standard Okta authentication processes for this and do not follow links in any external messages requesting you to reauthenticate and log in to Canvas.
If you need further help
These incidents or concerns about them can be very distressing. 24/7 support is available through Student Wellbeing services.
The best way to avoid being scammed is to have the right resources. This means knowing the warning signs of scams, what to do if you think you are being scammed and even how to support your friends or family who might be victims.
Scammers are constantly working on new ways to get money from their victims. This means so you can never be entirely safe but the right resources can give you a better chance of avoiding scams.
Act quickly if you’ve been scammed
If you have been scammed, or suspect that might be the case, act quickly. There are some steps you should immediately take to ensure that you are safe, your information and identity are secure, and your finances are protected.
The most important thing is to not panic. The information below can be used to reduce the further impacts of the scam and to help ensure your safety.
Follow the steps on this page and immediately seek support where possible.
You should read our information about common scams that you might encounter and how to avoid them.
If you’ve been scammed, you can take the following steps to mitigate the impacts:
In emergencies or if you are in danger, immediately call 000 and ask to speak to the police.
In New South Wales you can call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 if you aren’t in danger but are in need of help or support.
If you’re on campus, you can contact our security team by calling 9351 3333. Our security officers are available 24 hours a day to offer immediate assistance. They can provide advice and are trained in first aid.
The Student Wellbeing team can provide help and support during business hours (9 am to 5 pm).
Protect your finances
Stop sending money to the scammer immediately. If you aren’t sure if you’re being scammed, you should still stop sending money. Verify if the person you are talking to is legitimate first.
Contact your bank and tell them you’ve been scammed. They’ll be able to stop ongoing transactions and can cancel your bank or credit cards if necessary.
Scammers may have access to your identity so make sure you take steps to protect your identity if you’ve been scammed.
Being aware of currently circulating scams by checking your bank’s website and keeping an eye on the University’s scams information.
Banks have information available about current scams and the advice they want you to follow if you’ve been targeted. The major banks in Australia have information about scams on their websites:
Check your bank’s website for information about scams if it does not appear on the list above.
Protect your identity
If your identity has been stolen, or you have given out sensitive personal information, you should act quickly to prevent further problems. Information about your identity can be useful to scammers because it can be used for identity theft.
- Contact IDCare, the national identity and cyber support service. They can help you limit any damage done by the scammers by offering dedicated support and case management.
- Read the ID Support NSW Government website for information about breached identity documents. As part of this process you can get help with reissuing documentation.
- If your identity has been stolen you should consider putting a ban on your credit report. This will help to prevent criminals from using your identity to issue credit cards or take loans.
Many pieces of information can be useful for scammers. You should be particularly cautious if the following documents have been lost, stolen, or provided to scammers:
- Passport
- Driver’s license
- Government identity card
- Birth, marriage and change of name certificate
- Medicare card
- Letters or utility bills addressed to you.
If scammers have access to these or similar documents you should contact IDCare or ID Support NSW.