Fraud and scam prevention

One-time codes have become an increasingly common method of two-step verification and fraud protection when making payments, changing your account information, or sharing sensitive information online. 

Although this is an important step, it doesn’t always guarantee your security, especially if you’ve been the victim of a fraudulent SIM swap or port-out. 

You can choose additional two-step verification methods via the My Telstra app. These include Biometrics (Face & Fingerprint ID) and Telstra PIN.

Our team works closely with the banking industry and other sectors to help them identify recent SIM swaps or port-out activity on your service that may indicate you’ve been the victim of fraud.

When a request is made to us by a trusted partner, we'll provide them with a rating (in the form of a number on a risk scale), which gives an indication of whether there has been any recent SIM swaps or port-out activity for the mobile service you’re using as a means to verify your identity with that organisation.

The role we play is to provide the rating that indicates if a SIM swap or port-out activity may have happened recently on a mobile service, to help other organisations piece together the puzzle. It simply indicates to the bank or other organisation that they may wish to obtain more information before proceeding with the request.

You can find out more information about how we handle personal information, and how we will be sharing risk assessments with other organisations in our updated Privacy Statement, which you can access at Privacy at Telstra.

You may have heard about a proof-of-concept we’re trialling in conjunction with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia called Scam Indicator.

Learn how Scam Indicator can help reduce phone scams and prevent financial fraud.

• A credit enquiry / sold debt / default listing from Telstra is on my credit file and I'm not a current or former Telstra customer
• I'm being charged for a new mobile device that I didn't order
• I received suspicious notifications from Telstra shortly before my mobile service stopped working ('SOS only' mode)
• I was notified that my account information (contact details/ passwords) were changed, but I did not request this
• I received an online, email, SMS or telephone scam. Check our list of active scams

As part of our Identity Theft & Fraud Policy (PDF, 161KB), we’re committed to helping you protect yourself from identity theft, scams, and fraud. We’ll work with you to recover and restore your Telstra accounts and services if they’ve been impacted by fraud and help you setup your accounts to be as secure as possible to prevent future unauthorized access attempts. 

We’ll also support you when you tell us that a Telstra account has been opened using your details without your knowledge and you’ve been a victim of identity theft, even if you’re not a Telstra customer.

• To learn more about how we’re helping protect you from fraud you can read SIM swaps and porting fraud
• For more information about staying safe online visit Telstra Cyber Safety
• Protect yourself against cyber security risks with staysmartonline.gov.au
• To recognise, avoid and report scams, visit scamwatch.gov.au