Scammers Are Calling Telstra Customers and Pretending to Help After Last Week's Outage
Criminals are cold-calling Australians and posing as Telstra staff in the days after a national network failure. Here is what happened, what data could be at risk, and what you should do if your phone rings.
Key points
- Telstra, Australia's largest telecommunications company, publicly warned customers on 13 July 2026 that fraudsters are calling them and claiming to be Telstra representatives.
- The scam calls follow a major Telstra network outage that disrupted triple-zero emergency calls, payment systems, and public transport across Australia.
- Businesses affected by the outage must file an online complaint with supporting documents, such as sales receipts and EFTPOS records, to claim compensation.
- Telstra's CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy sold 29,608 ordinary Xero shares on 7 July 2026 for roughly $2.19 million to cover a personal tax bill, sending Xero shares down 3.3% on Monday morning.
- Oil prices jumped more than 4% on 13 July 2026 after the United States and Iran exchanged missile and drone fire, rattling global markets.
Pretending to be a helpful company representative after a public crisis is one of the oldest tricks in the scammer's playbook. Telstra is finding that out right now.
The telco put out a public warning on Monday 13 July 2026 urging customers to hang up immediately on anyone who calls claiming to be from Telstra and asking for personal details. The warning follows last week's national outage, which knocked out emergency triple-zero services, caused payment terminals to fail, and even stopped trains running in some parts of the country.
The company said it has seen reports of fraudsters calling customers and using the chaos of the outage as cover to harvest personal information. That information, once handed over, can be used to open fraudulent accounts, redirect bills, or commit identity theft.
Telstra's own statement was blunt: "If you get a call from someone claiming to be from Telstra asking for your details in light of the outage, hang up and call us directly."
What should Telstra customers actually do?
Hang up. Do not press any buttons. Do not confirm your name, account number, date of birth, or any password.
If you think the call might be genuine, end it and call Telstra back yourself using the number on the company's official website or on your bill. Scammers can spoof phone numbers, meaning the caller ID on your screen can be faked to look like a real Telstra number, so a number appearing legitimate is no guarantee.
If you already gave information to a caller you now suspect was a fraud, report it to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Scamwatch service and contact your bank immediately if any financial details were shared.
For businesses seeking compensation for losses caused by the outage, Telstra says the process runs through its online complaints system. You will need to supply supporting documents: point-of-sale records, EFTPOS transaction logs, or invoices showing what you lost while the network was down. Estimates reported by ABC News Australia put the total cost of the outage to businesses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
On the broader markets, oil prices surged after the US and Iran exchanged missile and drone fire over the weekend. Brent crude futures rose 4.1% to $79.12 a barrel by mid-morning AEST on 13 July 2026. The ASX 200 index, which tracks Australia's 200 largest listed companies, slipped 0.2% to 8,786 points as a result.
