Account safety tips (2024)

How do you make sure your money and accounts don’t fall into the wrong hands? It all starts with securing your banking and personal information - including:

• Debit, credit and NAB Now Pay Later (NNPL) cards and card information.
• Devices that you use to make payments or hold digital wallets on (e.g. your smartphone, tablet or wearable device).
• Personal Identification Numbers (PINs).
• Phone passcodes and pattern locks.
• Internet Banking passwords.
• All passwords (e.g. for email, devices or online accounts).
• SMS, Security Codes and Verification Codes.

Tips to help keep your money and accounts safe

Card and device security

• Don’t let anyone else use your card or device where you have a digital wallet set up.
• Do not share your device PIN or PIN pattern with anyone.
• Do not enter your PIN or passcode into a web page opened from an email or SMS link, even if it appears NAB has sent it.
• Regularly check that you still have your card and device.
• Let us know as soon as you realise your card or device or PIN has been lost, stolen or used by someone else.
• Don’t use an electronic banking facility such as an ATM, EFTPOS terminal or pay through a website if you think something isn’t right – fraudsters can use fake equipment to steal cards or capture PIN details.
• Sign the back of new cards as soon as you get them.
• When your card expires, destroy it by shredding or cutting it up. Make sure you slice through the embedded microchip, magnetic strip and securitycode (CVV).

Keeping your banking information secure

• Don’t share your passwords, PINs, passcodes or pattern locks and don’t let anyone watch you enter them.
• We recommend accessing NAB’s website by typing nab.com.au intoyour browser, rather than a link from within an email, SMS, a pop-up window, or from your browser history.
• Make your password/passcode/PIN hard to guess. Don’t choose one that’s easily identified with you (e.g. your birth date, car registration, telephone number or name).
• Be careful with your passwords, passcodes and PINs. Avoid writing them down or recording them in a device and choose different ones for each of your cards.
• Don’tlet anyone watch you enter your passwords, passcodes or PINs.
• Don’t share your Visa Secure one-time passcode with anyone, unless you're completing an online purchase that you initiated.
• Please be aware that if anyone else has Touch ID or Face ID set up on your device using their fingerprints or image, they may be able to access your banking accounts and change some of your settings. This could impact your liability for unauthorised transactions.
• Treat your device like your wallet or purse. Keep it close at all times.

If the guidelines above are not followed, you may be liable for any unauthorised transactions.

Liability for losses resulting from unauthorised transactions will be governed by the ePayments Code.

Avoid the red flags

• Treatany unexpected emails, SMS or phone calls with caution.NAB will not send you a link in an unexpected SMS messages. If you do receive an SMS containing a phone number asking you to contact NAB, search nab.com.au to verify that the phone number is legitimate where possible. You should treat any unexpected SMS messages with a link as suspicious. We’ll never send you an email or SMS asking you to provide your personal or banking details via a link or attachment nor will we send you a link taking you directly to Internet Banking. If you do receive these kinds of messages claiming to be from ‘NAB’, don’t act on them. Instead, forward the message tophish@nab.com.au and then delete it. Alternatively, you can forward the suspicious SMS to 0476 220 003.
• When you dispose of any old devices, it’s important to erase your personal data, deregister from services, delete your card from any digital wallets or any other Apps, and factory reset your device.
• If you feel like a call might not be genuine, hang up, and call back on an official phone number to verify the call was legitimate (the general NAB number is listed on the attached brochure, on the back of your cards and at the bottom of this page). Never provide personal information or allow the caller to have remote access to your computer on unsolicited calls.
• We’ll SMS you one-time passcodes for NAB Internet Banking transactions, password resets, to add your card to digital wallets and your requests for Open Banking data sharing - so it’s important to keep your phone secure. We might also send you a security code to verify you when you call us. This is the only code we will ask you to provide to us. Make sure you read the SMS in its entirety before sharing that code with us. Otherwise, do not provide the one-time passcode or security codes to anyone calling you even if they say they are from ‘NAB’. NAB will never ask you to enter your one-time passcode into a third-party website.
• When enrolling your card into a digital wallet we will send you a verification code to complete your enrolment with the digital wallet provider. Never share this code with anyone else or enter it into a website.
• If your mobile phone ever stops working, get in touch with your service provider to make sure you haven’t been a victim of ‘mobile phone porting’. This is where scammers use your information to transfer your phone number to another provider so they can intercept SMS passcodes sent to you.
  
• When downloading Apps, ensure that they are from official App stores (App Store or Google Play). Never download an App from a link in an email or SMS.
• Regularly check your account statements, Internet Banking, and transaction history. If you spot a transaction you don’t remember or recognise, let us know straight away.
• Onlyuse trusted devices and trusted Wifi networks to do online banking. Never accept a request to download a program or certificate to your device in order to use a public Wifi network.
• Regularly check your Open Banking data sharing permissions (consents for your banking to be shared with an accredited third party) which can be done through NAB Internet Banking or the NAB app. If you spot content you don’t remember or recognise, call us straight away. For instructions on how to do this, please visit nab.com.au/openbanking.
• Install up-to-date anti-virus software on your devices to detect and prevent online attacks.
• Reportany scams to the Australian Federal Government’sScamwatch service, opens in new window.
• Keep up-to-date with online threats and advice at nab.com.au/security, or Australian Cyber Security Centre at cyber.gov.au, opens in new window.

Protect against money muling scams

A money mule is a person who transfers illegally obtained money on behalf of someone else. Criminals need money mules to make it harder for authorities to track the money trail in a scam or illegal activity. Most money mules are unaware they are participating in a crime; however they could still be prosecuted. Criminals recruit money mules in different ways, including:

• Work from home “job” offers: Fake job advertisem*nts are posted online or emails are sent to individuals offering commissions for receiving money and then transferring it to another account.
• Romance scams: Singles looking for love online are asked to receive money and send it to another under the guise of helping their love interest.
• Offering money to “sell” your account to someone else: Criminals can approach customers asking them to “sell” their account details.
• Other scams: Criminals may threaten a person involved in a sextortion scam to publish their photos unless they transfer funds.

The red flags of a money mule scam:

• Unsolicited job offers: Beware of job offers that promise quick and easy money for minimal effort.
• Money transfer requests: If you are asked to transfer money for someone else, it is likely a money mule scam.
• Pressure tactics: If a criminal is threatening you in order to get you to transfer funds, stop all communication immediately and report it to police using the Report button on cyber.gov.au, opens in new window.

Reduce the risk of identity theft

• Secure your letterbox with a lock to prevent your mail being stolen.
• Let us know straight away if your email, address or contact details change.
• Never give out personal information to people you don’t know or trust.
• Don’t publish confidential information about yourself on social media, including your full name, date of birth, address or phone number – criminals can use this information to impersonate you.
• Shred documents containing your personal information before throwing them away.

When to notify NAB

If your card, phone or device has been lost or stolen, call us immediately on1800 033 103 (within Australia) or+61 3 8641 9121 (from overseas) 24 hours, 7 days a week - toll free. (Calls from mobile phones are charged at applicable mobile phone rates.)

You can also block, unblock and replace your linked personal and business cards by clicking on Cards in the main menu in NAB Internet Banking, the Cards menu in the NAB appor by calling NAB.If you have enrolled your NAB card into a Digital Wallet (i.e. Google Pay, Apple Pay etc) or digital payments and want to block all digital payments transactions, please call NAB.In addition, you can stop online transaction and contactless payments in your NAB app or online banking, including digital wallets. To do so, log into your mobile banking, select cards, select the relevant card, then usage controls and turn off Online Transactions and Contactless Payment controls.

If you believe something isn’t right with your account let us know straight away. Call the numbers listed above if your card, phone or device has been lost of stolen. For all other concerns, call the numbers listed below, especially if:

• someone finds out your PIN, passcodes or passwords
• there’s an error, unauthorised access or unauthorised transaction on your account
• you’ve provided your banking details to an unsolicited email, unknown caller or entered it into any website.

Contact us

Call us to tell us about any changes to your address.

For more information call

13 22 65(personal customers)

13 10 12(business customers)

If you’re d/Deaf or find it hard to hear or speak to hearing people on the phone, the National Relay Service can help. To contact NAB give our phone number13 22 65or13 10 12for business customers to the National Relay Service operator when asked.

Visit the National Relay Service, opens in new window website to find a suitable service option, NRS phone numbers and service links.

You can also visit our security homepage.