MailGuard 23 July 2024 17:35:00 AEST 6 MIN READ

Watch Out for Telstra Autopay Scam Emails

Telstra is Australia’s largest telecommunications company by market share. According to its website, it provides ‘around 22.5 million retail mobile services and 3.4 million retail bundle and data services’, and has ‘an international presence spanning over 20 countries’.

That makes its customer base a prime target for cybercriminals, with the latest email scam masquerading as an Autopay payment failure. With a subject line reading ‘Your Autopay payment was unsuccessful’, the email sender displays as ‘Telstra Autopay’, although the actual sending address is ‘support(at)blackh-23881(dot)arnt-nyc(dot)servebolt(dot)cloud’.

Here's what the email looks like:

telstra-0724-email-masked

The email is a close replica of an actual Telstra bill, with convincing formatting and brand use. Likewise, the phishing pages carefully mimic the look and feel of logging in to the Telstra portal online.

The first phishing page starts by asking for your username.

telstra-0724-phish-1-username

And then prompts users to enter their password.

telstra-0724-phish-2-password

Once the user is logged in, they’re prompted with a message suggesting that they should set up a debit card for future payments.

telstra-0724-phish-3-debitcard

The card details required include the card number, the cardholder name, the expiry date and CVV.

telstra-0724-phish-4-payment-details

A one-time-passcode (OTP) is then sent to the user’s mobile to verify their identity as a part of the card set up. Since the scammers have not requested the mobile number, we assume that at this point they are merely using the card details to process a fraudulent purchase or payment.

telstra-0724-phish-5-verify

Once complete, the user is presented with a message confirming that their card was added successfully.

telstra-0724-phish-6-success

Major brands like Telstra are often targets for impersonation in phishing attacks due to the large-scale of their customer base, their trusted name and the necessity of the services that they provide.

Telstra offers the following suggestions if you have received an email mimicking them:

  • Avoid opening suspicious or unsolicited emails – delete them directly from your inbox.
  • If you get a suspicious email, don't reply to the email or open the links. If you accidentally click on a link which opens a website, don't enter any information onto the website.
  • Avoid opening email attachments. If you've already saved or clicked on an attachment, make sure that your computer’s operating system and anti-virus software is up to date. Consider running an anti-virus scan of your computer.
  • Tell us about the scam by submitting a Report Misuse of Service form and include as much detail as you can. Our Cyber Security team will investigate the report and may be in touch if they have additional questions.

MailGuard advises all recipients of this email to delete it immediately without clicking on any links. Providing your personal details can result in your sensitive information being used for criminal activity and may have a severe negative impact on your business and its financial well-being.     

MailGuard urges users not to click links or open attachments within emails that:       

  • Are not addressed to you by name.       
  • Appear to be from a legitimate company but use poor English or omits personal details that a legitimate sender would include.       
  • Are from businesses that you were not expecting to hear from, and/or       
  • Take you to a landing page or website that is not the legitimate URL of the company the email is purporting to be sent from.      

Many businesses turn to MailGuard after an incident or a near miss, often as a result of an email similar to the one shown above. If unwanted emails are a problem for your business, don’t wait until it’s too late.  

Reach out to our team for a confidential discussion by emailing expert@mailguard.com.au or calling 1300 30 44 30.

One email is all that it takes     

All that it takes to devastate your business is a cleverly worded email message that can steal sensitive user credentials or disrupt your business operations. If scammers can trick one person in your company into clicking on a malicious link or attachment, they can gain access to your data or inflict damage on your business.     

For a few dollars per staff member per month, you can protect your business with MailGuard's predictive and advanced email security. Talk to a solution consultant at MailGuard today about securing your company's inboxes.  

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