By Melissa Blewitt

Scammers posing as National Broadband Network workers, have been targeting towns like Condobolin, as service upgrades take place in the region.
nbn field technicians have recently arrived in Condobolin to conduct infrastructure works related to the nbn fibre upgrade program. nbn is keen for people to recognise and report potential nbn scams.
As the nbn rolls out nation-wide upgrades, especially across regional areas of Australia – scammers have been reported to be finding new ways to try dupe unsuspecting businesses and residents to
hand over money and personal details.
More recently nbn impersonation scams have evolved, with opportunists reported to have been randomly door knocking or cold calling homes in areas where nbn technicians are working to install new fibre.
The following story was shared at a recent community session:
“A customer recently told me at a community event in Condobolin that they had received a call from someone claiming to be from nbn. The scammer stated the customer could expect a visit from someone knocking on his door to seek access to his front yard to do a fibre upgrade, and that he would need to pay $5 fee to have the works completed.
“They were asking for bank account details and stated he would be ineligible for the upgrade if he did not follow this process. The man on the phone claimed that once the fee was paid he would get a nbn rep on his door step. Luckily the customer disconnected the call immediately as he had seen an advertisement that nbn Local would be in town, and he thought he had better check directly with us if this was the process. He also stated that he had neighbours that had received the same call.”
nbn will never call to ask for payment or banking details. ‘Remote access scams’ are some of the most commonly-reported nbn impersonation scams, where nbn impersonators randomly call customers and claim they need to pay a fee for new internet hardware or postage costs, or offering free internet or speed upgrades.
The nbn crew are expected to be doing works over the next few months.
Over 1,200 premises in Condobolin will have the opportunity to upgrade from nbn Fibre to the Node technology (which uses aging copper technology) to full fibre via nbn Fibre to the Premises.