Name & Shame
Scammers

phishingNational

PayID Wrong-Number $32 Text Scam

I'm in Australia. On 1 October I got a text saying someone had accidentally sent me $32 through PayID. The message said the money was meant for their partner, that they had typed the number wrong, and asked me to send it back. I checked the old bank account that is still linked to my PayID. I do not use that account. The $32 was there. Nothing else was in it. The same morning I also had missed calls, and nobody left a message. I did not send the $32 back, and I did not reply. PayID is a real Australian way to pay someone. A text is not how a mistaken payment gets fixed. If the money really went to the wrong account, the sender asks their own bank to recall it. If you transfer it back yourself and the bank later reverses the original payment, that $32 comes out of your money. The person texting you may also want it sent to a different number from the one that paid you. Leave the money where it is. Do not reply to the text. Do not return a missed call from a number you do not know. Call your bank on the number printed on your card, or the number inside your banking app, and let them handle it. If an old account is still attached to your PayID, move the PayID to the account you actually use, then close the old one. Report the text to Scamwatch.

otherNational

Fake Cloudflare Check on the Fienza Website

I'm in Australia. I was looking at a page on Fienza, the Australian bathware site fienza.com.au. A box popped up that looked like Cloudflare. It said human verification had failed, and that I had to finish steps on the keyboard before the page would continue. A real Cloudflare check stays in the browser. It does not ask you to open a command window, paste anything, or run a program. I closed it and did not follow the steps. I reported the page. The fake box is no longer on the Fienza homepage. Fienza is a real bathware business. This was not a message from them. Someone had placed a fake verification over their site. The page was set up to download and run a program on the computer. That kind of program is used to take saved passwords and sign-in codes. If any site asks you to press keys, paste, or run a command to prove you are human, close the tab. If you already did that, disconnect the computer from the internet, call your bank on the number printed on your card, and change important passwords from a different device. Report it to Scamwatch and ReportCyber. Anyone who later offers to fix the computer or get money back for a fee is another scam.

otherNational

Instagram Terminally Ill Dog Donation Scam

I'm in Australia. I came across an Instagram account calling itself Lisa the black dog. It posts videos of a black dog and claims the dog is a lymphoma warrior that needs chemo. The bio asks people to donate $6,000. Any amount helps, it says. The videos are stolen. They were taken from a real dog owner's account and reused to tell a completely different story and collect money. The fake account deletes comments that point this out. I have not donated. I am posting this so other Australians do not. Do not send money. Do not click a donation link. Do not join a GoFundMe if they post one. Report the account on Instagram. If you already paid, contact your bank or PayPal and report it to Scamwatch. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.

otherNSW

Registration Pty Ltd (reg.com.au)

Registration Pty Ltd is NOT a scam. I originally asked my bookkeeper about whether i should pay this company review letter and she said it would probably be cheaper than my accountant. she was right, and i get to store my solvency docs in my dashboard with reg.com.au too. I just wanted people to know it's not a scam and i'm glad i use them.

otherNational

Fake CBA Fraud Team Callback Scam

I'm in Australia. I got an email that looked like it was from CommBank (CBA). It asked me to review a weird change on my account by calling a number it said was the CBA fraud team. I called that number. It sounded like the bank. I gave them my credit card details. As soon as I realised it was a scam I used the real CommBank number on the back of my card — not the number in the email — and froze, locked and disputed the charge. They still got a $5,000 charge through on the card. Because I authorised it on the call, I do not know if I will get it back. CommBank will never email you a fraud-team number to call. They will never ask for your card number, PIN or a one-time code over the phone. Hang up. Call 13 2221 or use the CommBank app. Do not call any number in a CommBank email or text. If you already did, lock the card in the app, call the real fraud line, and report it to Scamwatch. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.

investmentNational

CustodianX CFD Trading Scam

I'm in Australia. I got pulled into CustodianX (custodianx.net). They pitch CFD trading with a flashy dashboard and an AI-driven platform, and they promise huge profits. The dashboard looks legit. It is not. You never get your money back. I refused to make a bigger deposit. Weeks later they came back and tried every trick they had to get me to send cash or crypto to their wallets. Do not send money to CustodianX. Do not transfer crypto to wallets they give you. If you already paid, contact your bank or exchange and report it to Scamwatch. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.