The calls began on Friday, November 17. Lithgow Police were told the callers, posing as Telstra representatives, offered the man help to ensure his cyber security. 

As part of the procedure, the man was asked to buy numerous gift cards from local shopping chains and then provide the numbers on the back to the person on the phone. 

Lithgow Police Sergeant Darryl Goodwin said the man was called “consistently” over the weekend. 

“He was made to feel it was legitimate,” he said. 

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Given access to the man’s computer remotely, the scammers moved money around in his bank accounts to make it appear they were doing what they said they would. 

The man travelled to Katoomba to purchase more gift cards, having bought out all the gift cards of that type in Lithgow. He was warned by a Katoomba store owner that some scammers used gift cards to steal funds. 

The man reported the scam to Lithgow Police on Tuesday, November 21 after calculating his losses at $15,000. 

Sergeant Goodwin warned that the Telstra scam, as well as people posing as Australian Tax Office agents, was active in the Lithgow area at the moment. He warned people never to disclose bank details or give remote computer access to people they did not know. 

The Lithgow Mercury was contacted on Monday, November 20 concerned that another scam was active, which was offering a $500 prize via SMS.

The offer, which appeared to be from Woolworths, was addressed to a ‘rewards card’ holder. As the Lithgow resident did have a rewards card, she was tempted to follow the links to attempt to claim the prize. 

Warned against it by her son, the Lithgow woman checked her winning status with Woolworths. The company confirmed it was a scam. 

On the Woolworths website, the company warns that the scam has been circulating via SMS. The company urged people who suspected they had received this SMS to forward the details in an email to hoax@woolworths.com.au and delete the message. 

“Do not follow or click on any of the links that are contained within the message,” the statement said.