Facilitator guide, 30-minute community session, Australia

Teach someone how to hang up on a scammer

A ready-to-run session that teaches how scammers really work, the warning signs to spot, and how to check any call, text, message or offer before money moves. Written for Australia, for everyday people: anyone who banks on a phone or computer, and especially people who did not grow up with this technology. Anyone can run it, for a community group, a club, a church, a library, a workplace, or one on one across a kitchen table. Just read this page once, then follow it top to bottom. Includes a myth-busting round and five worked practice scenarios so you can extend the core 30 minutes into a workshop of 45 to 60 minutes.

Before you start

Who this session is for: anyone scammers target, which today means everyone. It works especially well for people who are newer to smartphones and internet banking, people who live alone, people recently arrived in Australia, and busy people who answer messages on the run. It also works for mixed groups and families. Ideal group size is 5 to 25 people, and it works perfectly for an audience of one.

Tone: assume someone in the room has already lost money to a scam, or is talking to a scammer right now without knowing it. Never shame anyone. The message is always "scammers are professional criminals running a full-time business, and anyone can be fooled", never "only careless people get scammed". Doctors, police officers, accountants and IT workers lose money to scams every week. Do not ask anyone to share their own story in front of the group.
Open the free Safety Check tool
The session at a glance
0 to 3 minPart 1: Welcome. Why we are here, set the tone.
3 to 9 minPart 2: How it really starts. The five ways scammers reach you.
+ 4 minPart 2B: Fast scams and slow scams. A toggle with two versions: panic scams that take minutes, or grooming scams that take months. Pick the one your audience needs most, or run both if you have the time.
9 to 15 minPart 3: The eight warning signs. The core of the session.
15 to 21 minPart 4: Check before money moves. Five practical steps.
21 to 26 minPart 5: Set up your defences today. The household safety plan.
26 to 30 minPart 6: Where to get help. Numbers and websites, then close.
OptionalExtension: myth or fact round (5 to 10 minutes) and five practice scenarios (4 to 6 minutes each). Pick what fits your time. Both are below Part 6 with full scripts and answer keys.
Part 1  ·  0 to 3 minutes
Welcome and why we are here

Goal: relax the room and make one point: this can happen to anyone, and today they will learn how to protect themselves and the people they love.

Say something like this

"Thank you for coming. The next 30 minutes could save you, or someone you love, from losing everything in a bank account. Australians reported losing more than two billion dollars to scams last year, and that is only the losses people admitted to. The people who lost that money were not stupid. They were nurses, farmers, tradies, teachers, accountants. They were beaten by professionals, because that is what scammers are: trained staff, working shifts, in criminal call centres, with scripts written by experts and tested on thousands of people before they reached you. You would not expect to beat a professional boxer with no training. Today is your training. We are going to learn exactly how they operate, the warning signs, and the simple habits that beat them."

Housekeeping: tell the group they can ask questions at any time, and that anyone who wants to talk privately can come to you after the session.
Facts you can quote (verified sources at the bottom of this page)
  • Australians reported combined scam losses of around 2 billion dollars in 2024 (National Anti-Scam Centre, Targeting Scams report). The true figure is higher, because research shows around a third of victims never tell anyone, usually out of embarrassment.
  • Investment scams are the single biggest cause of losses in Australia, close to a billion dollars in one year, and phone calls cause more reported losses than any other contact method (Scamwatch).
  • Scams are industrial: more than 80 percent of the world's known scam compounds are in South-East Asia (UNODC), staffed around the clock.
  • Many of the people typing the messages are themselves victims of human trafficking, locked inside those compounds and forced to scam under threat. That is why Aid Meridian teaches both ends of this crime: this session protects your money here, and our anti-trafficking work fights the compounds themselves.
Part 2  ·  3 to 9 minutes
How it really starts: the five ways they reach you

Goal: replace the image of an obvious dodgy email full of spelling mistakes with the reality: modern scams look and sound completely normal, and they arrive through the same channels your real bank and family use. Go through the five one by one. Write the bold names on the board if you have one.

  1. The official phone call. Someone calls saying they are from your bank's security team, the ATO, myGov, Centrelink, the police, or a delivery company. They sound calm and professional, there is call-centre noise in the background, and they may already know your name, address and even part of your account details, because criminals buy that information from data leaks. The screen on your phone may even show the bank's real name or number, because caller ID can be faked. The call always ends the same way: your money is in danger and you must act right now.
  2. The little text. A text about a parcel that could not be delivered, an unpaid road toll, a myGov refund, a bank security alert, or "Hi Mum, I dropped my phone in the sink, this is my new number". Each one carries a link or a number to reply to. The link leads to a perfect copy of the real website, built to harvest your card number and passwords. Scam texts can even land inside the same conversation thread as genuine messages from your bank or from Australia Post, so the thread proves nothing.
  3. The screen takeover. A call from "Telstra", "the NBN", "Microsoft" or "Amazon" saying your internet is compromised or your account was charged, or a pop-up on your computer with a loud warning and a number to call. They walk you through installing a "support tool", which is really remote-control software that lets them see your screen, your banking and everything you type.
  4. The lover who never arrives. A friendly stranger on Facebook, Instagram, a dating app, or even a word game. Attentive, patient, often claiming to work overseas: an engineer on a rig, a soldier, a doctor. The chat quickly moves to WhatsApp. Weeks or months of daily messages build real feelings. Then comes the emergency that needs money, or the loving suggestion that you invest together. Video calls never quite work, or are seconds long, and lately even a working video call can be faked with AI.
  5. The golden opportunity. An online ad or news article where a famous Australian raves about a trading platform, a crypto opportunity with guaranteed returns, a prize you have won, an inheritance waiting for you, or an unbelievable bargain in an online shop. The websites are slick, the "account manager" phones you personally, and the first small investment shows an instant profit on a dashboard built to lie to you.
Ask the group

"Hands up if you have ever received a text about a parcel, a toll, or 'Hi Mum, new number'." Nearly every hand goes up. Then say: "Every one of those was a scammer testing whether you would tap the link. You have all already been targeted. Today we make sure targeting is all they ever manage."

Part 2B  ·  pick one, or run both  ·  4 minutes
Fast scams and slow scams: know the two speeds

Goal: every scam runs at one of two speeds, and each speed has its own cure. Fast scams use panic so you cannot think. Slow scams use trust so you will not check. Use the toggle to pick one panel for a 30-minute session, or run both if you have 40 minutes. If your audience banks by phone and answers calls, start with fast. If loneliness or investing is the bigger risk in the room, start with slow.

Fast scams: panic and pressure
Slow scams: trust and patience
Say something like this

"Here is what a fast scam feels like from the inside. The phone rings, the screen says it is your bank. A calm voice says: 'This is the fraud team. Someone is inside your account right now, we are watching a transfer being prepared. We can protect your money, but we have to move it to a secure holding account immediately. Do not hang up, and do not tell branch staff if you go in, because we believe a staff member is involved.' Your heart is pounding. That pounding is the weapon. Fear switches off the checking part of your brain, and the script is written to keep you on the phone, keep you moving, keep you scared, until your own hands have transferred your own money to the criminal. Every fast scam, whether it is the fake bank, the fake ATO warrant, or the child with a new number who needs rent today, is the same machine: panic plus a deadline. And the whole machine has one weakness. It cannot survive you hanging up and taking one hour."

Then teach the three choke points, the moments where you can still win:

  1. The hang-up. Any call about your money, your account, a fine, a warrant or a family emergency: hang up, wait a few minutes, then ring the organisation yourself on a number you found yourself, from the back of your card, a past bill, or the official app. Never ring back the number that called you, and never trust the number on the screen, because caller ID can be faked. Hanging up is not rude. Criminals rely on your politeness.
  2. The codes. A code that arrives by text is the key to your account. Your bank will never call and ask you to read one out, ever. The moment anyone on a phone asks for a code, a PIN, a password, or asks you to install an app so they can "help", the call is a scam and you can hang up mid-sentence with a clear conscience.
  3. The payment. Fast scams end with a strange payment: a transfer to a "safe account", gift cards from the supermarket, crypto at an ATM, or a courier coming to collect your card. No real organisation in Australia takes payment in gift cards or asks you to move money to keep it safe. And notice: when a bank teller or a shop assistant asks why you are transferring money or buying 2,000 dollars of gift cards, that question is a safety net. Scammers coach victims to lie to bank staff. Anyone who tells you to lie to your own bank has told you exactly what they are.
Say something like this

"Slow scams are the opposite. No panic, no deadline, just a friendly person with time for you, every single day. A romance that grows over months. A charming 'account manager' who rings every week about your investment. The scammers call this work 'fattening the pig before the slaughter': invest in the relationship first, harvest later. And they are patient because the payoff is huge, these are the scams that take houses and life savings, not hundreds of dollars. The cruel twist is that the person messaging you often is real and often is kind, because many of them are trafficking victims locked in a compound, forced to run twenty of these conversations at once from a script. The love is fake, but even when feelings seem real, the emergency, the investment and the photos are manufactured. A slow scam has no scary moment to warn you. So you need to know its three tells: you can never truly meet them, sooner or later the conversation turns to money, and when you try to take money out, there is always one more fee."

Then teach the three choke points, the moments where you can still win:

  1. The live test. A real person can meet you, and a real friend passes simple tests happily: a proper video call at a random moment you choose, a photo holding today's newspaper, meeting your family on a call. Excuses that never end, cameras that never work, and anger when you ask are all the same answer. Also do a reverse image search of their photos at images.google.com, because stolen photos are the industry standard.
  2. The money moment. The first time an online friend, partner or "mentor" mentions money in any form, a crisis, a fee, a can't-miss investment, a favour, treat it as an alarm going off, no matter how natural it sounds after months of friendship. That moment is the entire purpose of the friendship. Stop and tell someone in your real life before you reply.
  3. The withdrawal fee. On investment platforms, the trap springs when you try to take money out: suddenly there is a tax, a release fee, an account upgrade needed first. Understand this clearly: a fee to withdraw your own money means the money is already gone, and every dollar you send after that moment is a new loss, not a rescue. Stop paying, keep every message, and go straight to your bank and the hotlines in Part 6.
Part 3  ·  9 to 15 minutes
The eight warning signs

Goal: this is the heart of the session. Go through all eight slowly. Ask the group to repeat the rule at the end. If you only have a whiteboard for one thing, list these.

Say something like this

"One of these signs means stop and check. Two or more means it is a scam, full stop. And here is the rule I want you to remember if you forget everything else today: anything real survives you hanging up, taking an hour, and calling back on the official number. A real bank survives it. A real police officer survives it. Your real grandchild survives it. Only a scam dies when you slow down."

Ask the group

"Let's test it. I will read a realistic phone call and you count the warning signs." Read: "Good morning, this is Daniel from your bank's fraud prevention team, you can see our number on your screen. There have been three unauthorised transactions on your account this morning. We need to move your funds to a secure holding account in the next 15 minutes. I will send a verification code to your phone now, please read it back to me. And please do not discuss this call with anyone, including bank staff, while the investigation is active." Let them call out the signs. (There are at least six: out of the blue, urgency, a "safe account", asking for the code, "trust the caller ID", and secrecy.)

Part 4  ·  15 to 21 minutes
Check before money moves: five steps

Goal: give them a checking habit they can actually do, on their own phone, every time. Walk through the five steps. If you have internet, do the live demo in step 4.

  1. Stop. Take an hour. Hang up the phone, do not tap the link, do not reply. Make a cup of tea. Nothing legitimate is ever lost by waiting an hour, and it is the one thing every scam script is engineered to prevent. Say the sentence out loud if it helps: "If this is real, it will still be real after lunch."
  2. Go back through the front door. Contact the organisation yourself, using a contact you found yourself: the number on the back of your card, the official app on your phone, a past bill, or the website address typed in by hand. Never use the number that called you, the number in the text, or the link in the email. Ask: "Did you contact me today?" This one habit, hang up and go back through the front door, defeats nearly every fast scam ever written.
  3. Search it, and search the person. Type the company name plus the word "scam" into Google, and the exact wording of any text message you received. For anything involving investing, check the company on ASIC's moneysmart.gov.au investor alert list before a single dollar moves. For an online friend or partner, do a reverse image search of their photos at images.google.com. Thirty seconds of searching has saved people hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  4. Run our free Safety Check. Go to aidmeridian.org/check, paste the text message, the email, the job ad or the link, and it will show the warning signs it finds and tell you what to verify. It is free and anonymous. Live demo if you have internet: paste the fake bank call script from Part 3, or a "Hi Mum" text, and show the group the result. No internet? Write the address on the board and ask everyone to save it in their phone now.
  5. Say it out loud to someone before money moves. Before any transfer, any gift card, any "investment", any payment to help anyone: tell one real person the whole story, who contacted you, what they want, and how they want it paid. Scams sound convincing in your ear and ridiculous out loud. That is why sign number 6 exists, secrecy, because saying it out loud is the cheapest safety check in the world and scammers know it.
Part 5  ·  21 to 26 minutes
Set up your defences today: the household safety plan

Goal: be practical. Warning signs help in the moment, but the strongest protection is set up in advance, while everyone is calm. Present this as "what switched-on households do", and ask everyone to pick at least two items to set up this week.

Say something like this

"None of this is paranoia, and none of it costs a cent. It is exactly what people who work in banks and in the police do with their own families. A real bank, a real business and a real loved one will never object to any of it. Only a scammer needs you to have no code word, no second opinion, no limits and no delay."

Part 6  ·  26 to 30 minutes
Where to get help

Goal: everyone leaves knowing two things: minutes matter if money has moved, and there is real help with no judgement. Read the table aloud and give people a minute to save the key numbers. Never skip this part.

The golden minutes: if money has just been sent, the very first call is to your own bank's fraud team, immediately, day or night, before anything else. Banks can sometimes freeze or recall a transfer in the first minutes and hours. The number is on the back of your card. Do not spend those minutes being embarrassed, spend them on the phone.
SituationWho to contact
Money just sentYour bank's fraud team, immediately. Call the number on the back of your card or in the official app, any hour. Say the words "I have been scammed and money has left my account". Then keep every message, receipt and phone number as evidence.
Report any scamScamwatch (National Anti-Scam Centre): scamwatch.gov.au. Report even if you lost nothing, every report helps them warn others and take sites down.
Identity stolen1800 595 160 IDCARE, Australia's free identity and cyber support service. If you gave away your licence, Medicare, passport details or passwords, they build you a personal recovery plan. Free and confidential.
CybercrimeReportCyber at cyber.gov.au/report for hacking, remote access and online fraud. The Australian Cyber Security Hotline 1300 292 371 answers 24 hours.
myGov or Centrelink1800 941 126 Services Australia Scams and Identity Theft Helpdesk, if your myGov or Centrelink details are involved.
"ATO" calls1800 008 540 to check whether a call, text or email claiming to be the ATO is real, and to report it.
Feeling threatened000 if anyone threatens you or someone is coming to your home. Scammers use fear, police use warrants, and no real officer collects fines by phone.
Feeling overwhelmed13 11 14 Lifeline, 24 hours. Losing money to a scam is a real trauma and talking to someone helps. There is no shame in either call.
Aid MeridianFree safety check any time at aidmeridian.org/check, or email info@aidmeridian.org.
Close with this

"Take out your phone right now and save two things: Scamwatch, scamwatch.gov.au, and IDCARE, 1800 595 160. Done? Then write this somewhere near your phone at home: HANG UP, WAIT, CALL BACK ON THE REAL NUMBER. That is the whole defence in one line. Last thing: you now know what most victims only learned after the money was gone. Share it. Tell your neighbour, your brother, the friend who lives alone. Scammers make their living on people who have never had this conversation. Every person you talk to is a person who is harder to rob. Thank you."

Extension A  ·  5 to 10 minutes
Myth or fact round

Goal: a fast, fun round that clears out the dangerous beliefs people arrive with. Read each statement aloud, ask the room to call out "myth" or "fact", then read the answer. Run it after Part 3 or at the end, wherever your energy dips.

  1. "Only gullible people fall for scams." Myth. Scam scripts are engineered by professionals and tested on thousands of people. Victims include doctors, police officers, accountants and IT experts. Falling for a professional deception is not stupidity, and believing you are too smart to be caught is itself a risk factor, because it stops you checking.
  2. "I would be able to tell if I was talking to a scammer." Myth. The days of broken English and obvious fakes are over. AI now writes flawless messages, clones voices from a few seconds of audio, and can fake a live video call. You cannot reliably detect a scammer by how they sound. You detect them by what they ask for: codes, secrecy, urgency, strange payments.
  3. "The number on my screen said it was the bank, so it was the bank." Myth. Caller ID can be faked, and scam texts can land inside the same thread as real bank messages. What appears on your screen is decoration, not identification. The only number you can trust is the one you look up and dial yourself.
  4. "As long as I never give out my PIN or password, my money is safe." Myth. Most big losses today involve no stolen password at all: the victim moves the money with their own hands, to a "safe account", an "investment", or a loved one in "trouble". That is exactly why the checks in Part 4 are about the story, not just the password.
  5. "If I get scammed, the bank will refund me." Myth. When you authorise a transfer yourself, even under deception, a refund is not guaranteed. Banks are being pushed to do more and it is always worth demanding they try, fast, but never treat a refund as a safety net. The only reliable protection happens before the money moves.
  6. "They knew my name, my address and my account, so it had to be real." Myth. Personal details leak in data breaches constantly and are bought and sold in bulk. A caller knowing things about you proves nothing at all, and real organisations do not prove themselves by reciting your details, you prove them by calling back on the official number.
  7. "Scams are really only a problem for one type of person." Myth. Every age group and every background reports scam losses in Australia, and scammers tailor the bait to the target: investment scams for savers, job scams for jobseekers, romance scams for the lonely, rental scams for the young. The method changes, the machine is the same, and so is the defence.
Extension B  ·  4 to 6 minutes per scenario
Practice scenarios: how to run them

Goal: practice is what turns a list of warning signs into a reflex. Each scenario below is a realistic story built from real Australian cases. Read it aloud slowly (or ask a confident volunteer to read it), then work the same three questions every time. Pick the two or three scenarios closest to your audience: 1 and 4 for people who answer their phone, 3 and 5 for people online a lot, 2 for every family.

The three questions, same every scenario
  • "What warning signs did you hear?" (Let them call out, count them on your fingers.)
  • "What would you do next if this was you?" (Push for a specific action: hang up and call the real number, the one-hour wait, the Safety Check tool, telling someone.)
  • "What would you say if this was your friend?" (This is the most important one. Most people are not saved by their own caution, they are saved by someone who spoke up.)
Facilitator note: after the group answers, read the answer key aloud even if they found everything, because hearing the full pattern named out loud is how it sticks. If the group is shy, answer the first question yourself and hand them the second.
Scenario 1  ·  The call from the bank
Best for: everyone who answers their phone
Read this aloud

"Judith's phone rings at 9.40 on a Tuesday morning. The screen shows her bank's name. 'Good morning, this is Marcus from the fraud team. Please do not be alarmed, but someone is attempting to transfer 8,000 dollars from your account right now. We have paused it, but your account is compromised, so we need to move your funds to a secure holding account while we investigate.' He is calm, patient and kind. He knows her full name and her suburb. He tells her a six-digit code is on its way to her phone and asks her to read it back to confirm her identity. When she hesitates, he says gently: 'Judith, I completely understand, there are so many scams these days. That is exactly why we have to act in the next few minutes. And please do not mention this to anyone, including branch staff, we believe someone internal is involved.'"

Ask the three questions

What warning signs did you hear? What should Judith do next? What would you say to her if she rang you halfway through, whispering, still on the other line to Marcus?

Answer key
  • Signs: out of the blue, urgency ("the next few minutes"), a "secure holding account" (banks never move your money to keep it safe), asking her to read out a texted code (banks never do this), "trust the caller ID" (spoofed), and secrecy including "do not tell branch staff". Six signs, and any one alone is enough. Notice the cleverest touch: he warned her about scams himself. Scammers do this constantly, it builds trust.
  • Next step: hang up mid-sentence, wait a few minutes, ring the bank on the number on the back of her card and ask "did you call me today?". If any transfer already went, say "I have been scammed" and let the fraud team race it.
  • Point to land: the entire scam lives inside one phone call, and dies the moment she hangs up. Nothing real is lost by hanging up on a real bank, they will simply ring the fraud through to her again through official channels. Hang up, wait, call back on the real number.
Scenario 2  ·  Hi Mum
Best for: every family
Read this aloud

"Robyn gets a text: 'Hi Mum, dropped my phone in the sink 🙈 this is my new number, save it. Can't take calls yet, mic is broken, text only.' They chat for a day about nothing much, and it sounds just like her son: same jokes, same shorthand. The next morning: 'Mum I hate to ask. My rent and a bill came out together and my card is locked because of the new number. Can you transfer 1,860 today? I'll fix it Friday. Please don't tell Dad, he'll lecture me for a week.' A week later, a different family gets the harder version: a phone call, and it is their daughter's actual voice, crying, saying she has been in an accident and a lawyer needs 5,000 dollars today. The voice was cloned from videos on her public Instagram."

Ask the three questions

What warning signs did you hear in each version? What one action defeats both versions completely? What should this family set up this week so the crying-voice call can never work on them?

Answer key
  • Signs: a new number out of the blue, "text only, can't take calls" (blocking the easiest check), urgency, a payment to an unfamiliar account, and secrecy ("don't tell Dad"). In the voice version: urgency, payment, and pure panic in place of proof, because a voice is no longer proof of anything.
  • The one action: contact your child on the old number, the one already saved in your phone, before any money moves. The scam's whole story exists to stop that call ("phone in the sink", "mic broken"). If the old number answers, the scam is over. No answer? Try another family member or a partner. Money moves only after a real voice on a known number, or the code word.
  • Set up this week: the family code word from Part 5, agreed in person, and asked for on every urgent money request no matter how real the voice sounds. Plus the two-person rule: "don't tell Dad" fails automatically in a family where money never moves on one person's panic. And set social media to friends-only, public videos are the raw material for voice cloning.
Scenario 3  ·  The engineer on the rig
Best for: anyone online, and anyone with a friend who lives alone
Read this aloud

"Helen plays a word game on her tablet. A message arrives from her opponent, David: silver-haired in his photo, a civil engineer from Adelaide working his final contract on an offshore platform near Singapore. He is warm, funny and remembers everything she tells him. Within a week they are messaging on WhatsApp morning and night. He calls her 'my darling' by week three. Video calls never quite work on the rig's internet, though once there was a blurry ten-second call that looked like his photo. After four months he is planning to visit her in October. Then disaster: his equipment was damaged in a storm, the company is withholding his pay until he covers the excess, and he is 9,000 dollars short. He hates himself for asking. He has never asked her for anything. And could she keep it between them, because he is embarrassed and her daughter already seems suspicious of him."

Ask the three questions

What warning signs did you hear? What could Helen do this afternoon to test whether David is real? What would you say to her, knowing she is in love, lonely since last year, and will defend him?

Answer key
  • Signs: met online and moved quickly to WhatsApp, works somewhere that conveniently prevents meeting and proper video, months of daily attention (the investment), then the emergency needing money, and secrecy aimed at the exact person who would protect her. The blurry ten-second call is no proof, short fake clips are standard tooling now. This is the classic long game, and the person typing may be a trafficking victim in a compound running twenty Helens at once from a script.
  • Tests a real David passes easily: a proper video call at a random time Helen chooses, a photo holding today's date on paper, a reverse image search of his photos at images.google.com (stolen photos usually surface in seconds), and his full name plus "engineer" plus "scam" into Google. A real man planning to visit in October survives every one of these happily.
  • Talking to someone in love: never attack David, attack the plan. Shame pushes her toward him, questions pull her back. Say: "If he is real, he will still be real after one proper video call and a two-week wait, and a real man would never want you to send money you cannot afford. Ask him. If he gets angry or the excuses multiply, that is your answer." And remember the rule from Part 4: money to someone you have never met in person is the line that never gets crossed, no matter how long the love story.
Scenario 4  ·  The technician on the screen
Best for: anyone with a home computer
Read this aloud

"Frank gets a call from 'the NBN technical department'. There is a serious problem: criminals are using his connection, and unless it is fixed today his internet and phone will be disconnected, and he may be liable. The technician is patient with Frank's questions and walks him through installing a program called AnyDesk, 'our standard support tool', so he can run a security check. Frank watches his own cursor move by itself. The technician finds the 'hackers' and says Frank is owed 500 dollars compensation. He asks Frank to log in to his internet banking to receive it. Then panic in his voice: 'Frank, I mistyped, I sent you 5,000 instead of 500. This is my job on the line, I have a family. Please, could you transfer the 4,500 back today.' On the screen, sure enough, Frank's account shows 5,000 dollars more than it should."

Ask the three questions

What warning signs did you hear? Where did the 5,000 dollars on the screen really come from? What should Frank do right now, and what must he do in the days after?

Answer key
  • Signs: out of the blue, urgency and threat (disconnected today, "liable"), remote-access software (the moment the call became a takeover), and the emotional "overpayment" story, which is warning sign 8 wearing a disguise: a payment you must send to fix a payment. The kindness and the family story are script, tested on thousands of people before Frank.
  • The 5,000 on screen is fake or shuffled: either the web page is being manipulated through the remote software, or the money was moved from Frank's own other account, his savings, into his everyday account. Nothing was ever given to him. If he "returns" 4,500, he is sending his own savings to a criminal.
  • Right now: hang up, turn off the computer or unplug the internet, and call his bank's fraud team from a different phone, or after the router is off, using the number on the back of his card. Never use the compromised computer for banking until it is cleaned. Afterwards: have the remote software removed and the computer checked, change every password starting with email and banking from a safe device, turn on two-factor authentication, report to ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au, and call IDCARE on 1800 595 160 if any identity documents were visible. And know the plain rule that prevents all of it: no real company, not the NBN, not Telstra, not Microsoft, rings you out of the blue and asks to control your computer. That request is the scam, every single time.
Scenario 5  ·  The investment that always wins
Best for: savers, and anyone who sees ads online
Read this aloud

"David sees an article shared on Facebook: a famous Australian entrepreneur, in what looks like a real news interview, describing the trading platform that 'the banks don't want you to know about'. The website is beautiful, with live charts and reviews. He starts with just 250 dollars. A friendly account manager, James, rings the next day, no pressure, full of market talk. Within a week David's dashboard shows his 250 has become 410. James suggests a test: withdraw 200, just so David trusts the platform. The 200 arrives in David's bank the same day. Over the next two months, David moves in 85,000 dollars, most of his savings, and the dashboard climbs beautifully. When his daughter's wedding comes and he tries to withdraw 20,000, there is a pause. Then James, apologetic: because of the profit size, the tax office requires 10 percent clearance, 8,700 dollars, payable before any withdrawal can be released."

Ask the three questions

What warning signs did you hear, including the ones dressed up as good news? What was the real purpose of the 200-dollar withdrawal that worked? What should David do now, and what single check would have saved him at the start?

Answer key
  • Signs: the celebrity endorsement (these are fabricated wholesale, real public figures constantly warn their names are being stolen for these ads), guaranteed easy returns, an "account manager" who rings you (real platforms do not assign you a friendly caller), a dashboard only the scammer controls, and finally warning sign 8 in its purest form: a fee to withdraw your own money.
  • The 200-dollar withdrawal was bait, and the cheapest investment the scammer made. It bought David's trust for 200 dollars and harvested 85,000. The dashboard was never connected to any real market, the numbers are simply typed in to climb.
  • Now: stop paying immediately, the "tax" is a lie and money sent after this point is a new loss, not a rescue, and there will always be one more fee. Call the bank's fraud team today, report to Scamwatch and ReportCyber, keep every message, and warn the family, because "recovery agents" will soon ring offering to get the money back for an upfront fee. That is the same criminals selling the same victim a second scam.
  • The single check at the start: before any investment, look the company up on ASIC's investor alert list at moneysmart.gov.au and check they hold a real Australian financial services licence, then wait the hour and say it out loud to one person. And the standing rule: any platform that needs a payment before it releases your money already has its answer, the money is gone the moment a withdrawal costs money.

If someone tells you they are being scammed right now, or already lost money

Stay calm and talk privately, away from the group. Listen without judgement, never say "how could you fall for that", and do not promise to keep it secret, say instead: "I will only share this with people who can help you." If money moved recently, help them call their bank's fraud team immediately, minutes matter more than feelings. Then IDCARE on 1800 595 160 if identity details were given, and a report to Scamwatch. If they are still in contact with the scammer, especially a romance scammer, be gentle: they may not be ready to believe it, so do not attack the person, suggest the tests in Scenario 3 and stay close. Losing money this way is a genuine trauma, so check on them again in the following weeks, and share Lifeline 13 11 14 if they are struggling. If anyone is threatening them, contact police.

Facilitator questions

This guide is provided free by Aid Meridian Ltd for community education. Phone numbers and websites change occasionally: if a number does not connect, search the organisation's name to find its current contact, and let us know at info@aidmeridian.org so we can update this page. This page is general safety education, not financial or legal advice.

Sources

Every statistic, number and website on this page comes from an official or published source, so you can answer with confidence if anyone questions the facts. Last checked July 2026.