World Password Day a reminder to stay vigilant against online criminals 

As scammers grow increasingly sophisticated and scams more complex, this year’s World Password Day (4 May) is an important reminder to always stay vigilant against online criminals, the Australian Banking Association (ABA) says. 

ABA Chief Executive Officer Anna Bligh said there are some simple measures Australians can take to help protect themselves from scams and fraud – and creating secure, complex passwords – and never revealing these – is a key preventative step. 

“Creating a complex password, that is not used across multiple platforms and devices, is more important than ever in the fight against scammers and cyber criminals.” 

“A reputable organisation will not ask for passwords over the phone. If you receive such a call, hang up straight away – it’s a scam.”

ABA CEO, Anna Bligh

Ms Bligh said banks will never ask for online banking passcodes or passwords over email, text or phone. 

“A reputable organisation will not ask for passwords over the phone. If you receive such a call, hang up straight away – it’s a scam,” she said. 

Tips to create a secure password: 

• The more complicated, the better. Consider a longer, ‘phrase based’ password. 
• Don’t use obvious words in your passwords ie: family or pet names or birthdates. 
• Consider utilising a password management platform. 
• Never share passwords. 
• Never write passwords down. 

Ms Bligh said individual vigilance is essential to help fight the current global scam plague and a recently launched campaign by the ABA is designed to inform the public on ways to beat the scammers. 

“It is essential that customers remain vigilant in all aspects of their digital lives,” Ms Bligh said. 

“With the tag line ‘hear the alarm bells’, the new ABA anti-scams campaign highlights the importance of customer vigilance against this criminal activity.” 

More information about the campaign can be found here.  

Remember, banks will never: 

• call and ask you to transfer funds to another account over the phone. 
• contact you to ask for any account or personal details in an unsolicited text or email. 
• ask for online banking passcodes or passwords over email, text or phone. 
• ask for remote access to your devices. 
• threaten you to take immediate action on an issue.  

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