PH call center raided for scamming Australians
A call center facility in the Philippines was raided by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Cybercrime Group for allegedly being linked to multimillion-dollar scams targeting Australians’ superannuation.
Superannuation is a retirement fund put aside by Australian employers for their workers.
Australian cybercrime investigator Ken Gamble said that people in the call center were pretending to be from Melbourne to convince Australians to give up their personal information.
At the same time, the PNP reportedly raided the Manila home of a British man who was allegedly involved in running the call center.
Reports also said that one scam had “cloned” or misused real details without permission from a company controlled by financial giant AMP.
In a statement provided to news.com.au, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) confirmed it had investigations open with “some at an advanced stage”.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court added that they also issued a warning about these types of scams last May 2021, “highlighting the need for consumers to exercise great caution whenever contacted to open an SMSF account, and to always seek independent, trustworthy advice.”
