This October, for Cyber Awareness Month, we’re launching Xposed, a series of insights into how fraud and cybercrime unfold, through real-life stories of people like you. Each story is a lesson, a warning, and a reminder that it could happen to anyone. Together, we reflect and spark conversations on raising awareness today, a task that cannot be separated from comprehensive fraud and cybercrime protection.
Losing years of carefully saved money in just a few minutes, sometimes even seconds, sounds almost unreal. Yet in 2025, it happens more often than we like to admit. The stories of those affected are countless, and the tricks scammers use are endlessly inventive.
How Scammers Operate
Despite the variety, certain patterns keep emerging. Scammers always rely on trust, posing as people or institutions we believe in. They strike when we are distracted, stressed, or simply caught off guard, maybe during a busy workday, a stressful moment, or a fleeting lapse of attention. And they create urgency, pushing us to act before we stop to question what’s happening.
Looking closely at these cases, the common threads become clear: trust is exploited, pressure is applied, and the ordinary is twisted into something dangerous. Even the most careful among us can be caught in a single moment, because digital fraud only needs one crack in our attention to get inside.
A Real-Life Scam: The NBN Case
The story we’ll reflect on today was originally shared by Scamwatch Australia, through a video testimony in which the person involved described their experience. Scamwatch is a project run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the government agency responsible for promoting competition, fair trading, and consumer protection. The initiative aims to raise awareness by publishing real cases of fraud and scams. You can watch the original video here: //www.scamwatch.gov.au/research-and-resources/scams-awareness-week-2025/scam-stories.
In Australia, an elderly person who had saved patiently for years, someone who would have described themselves as aware and careful, fell victim in a single phone call. The call appeared to come from NBN, Australia’s national broadband company, which provides internet services across the country. The person was asked to install an app on their computer to facilitate a routine technical upgrade. The request seemed official and reasonable, so it was trusted. Following the instructions, the person clicked, typed, and opened their device to the “technician.” In less than an hour, years of carefully accumulated savings had disappeared. Just like that.
Understanding Impersonation Fraud
In fraud prevention, this type of scam is called impersonation fraud, because the scammer poses as someone the victim already trusts (a company, a government agency, or a service provider) to gain access to sensitive information or money. In this case, the fraudster relied on AnyDesk, a legitimate app designed for remote support and work. While the app itself is safe, the danger came from deception: the victim was persuaded to install it and grant access to her device, effectively handing the criminals control without realizing it. Once inside, they moved fast, emptying her savings before she even noticed what was happening, while exploiting all the right emotions: trust, timing, and human psychology. Even careful, experienced users can be caught off guard, because these scams are designed to strike when we are distracted, tired, or simply believing we’re making the right choice.
The Evolution of Scams
This should make us reflect. Twenty years ago, scams were emails written in broken English claiming you’d inherited a fortune from a distant prince. Easy to spot, easy to laugh at. But 2025 is a different world. Today’s scammers exploit trust. They impersonate institutions we rely on, use the right words, the right logos, the right tone. They know we’re busy, that we don’t have time to check every detail. And they strike in those moments.
Protecting Yourself: Practical Steps
So what do we do? If you’re thinking, “I’m not a cybersecurity expert, I just want to pay my bills and live my life online,” you’re right. It shouldn’t be your full-time job to outsmart professional fraudsters. Awareness helps, yes, and a healthy dose of doubt helps too. In a situation like this, simply knowing how remote access apps like AnyDesk can be misused might have been enough to raise a red flag. Taking a moment to question the request, to slow down instead of rushing, can make all the difference. For example, you could verify the caller’s identity by contacting the company directly through an official number listed on their website or refuse to share access codes or install software under pressure.
The Role of Technology in Fraud Prevention
But individual vigilance alone isn’t enough. Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the digital services we rely on, which should be equipped with advanced fraud and cyber-prevention systems. With the right safeguards in place, that transfer would never have gone through. In other words, technology becomes the safety net that catches us when a moment of lost awareness leaves us exposed.
That’s where solutions like XTN come in. Had a system like XTN been in place in the NBN scam case, it could have detected unauthorized access to the victim’s device or flagged unusual transactions, stopping the fraud before the savings were lost.
Today, protecting yourself online shouldn’t be your full-time job. A strong, all-in-one fraud prevention system, covering cyber threats, financial crime, and AML, does the work for you, monitoring continuously and stopping threats before they reach your accounts. Let’s make it simple: it watches for unusual logins, strange transactions, or anything that doesn’t fit your normal behavior. By spotting these patterns across multiple channels, it can stop fraud before it causes real damage. When the digital services you rely on are equipped with the right fraud prevention systems, you can use digital services safely, without stress, knowing that the experts are looking out for you.
Empowering Protection Through Awareness and Technology
The harsh reality of digital fraud in 2025 is that no one is immune, not the cautious, not the tech-savvy, not even those who think they’ve seen it all. The story of the elderly Australian deceived by a fake NBN call is a stark reminder that scammers thrive on exploiting trust and fleeting moments of vulnerability for everyone. But this doesn’t mean we’re powerless. By cultivating a habit of pausing to question unexpected requests, especially those demanding urgent action or access to our devices, we can protect ourselves from falling into these traps. Simple steps, such as verifying the caller’s identity directly through official channels or refusing to install software under pressure, can stop scammers in their tracks.
Beyond personal vigilance, we must demand more from the digital world we live in. Technology providers, financial institutions, and service platforms have a responsibility to implement robust fraud prevention systems like XTN, which act as our safety net by detecting and blocking suspicious activity before it’s too late. By combining our own awareness with advanced technological safeguards, we can reclaim control, ensuring that our hard-earned money and personal information remain secure. Let’s learn from these stories, stay skeptical, and push for a digital ecosystem that prioritizes our protection, so we can live online with confidence, not fear.
We hope Xposed gives you pause to reflect on how easily trust can be exploited online and how critical awareness is in today’s digital world. Take a moment this Cyber Awareness Month to review your own habits, question unexpected requests, and explore the tools and protections available to keep your accounts and devices safe.
But don’t stop there. Share what you learn with the people around you, parents, grandparents, friends, those who may not be scrolling LinkedIn but are often the first targets of fraudsters. Passing knowledge forward is one of the simplest, most powerful ways to protect the people we care about.
Stay informed, stay vigilant, and join the conversation. Check out our XTN solutions to see how advanced fraud and cyber-prevention systems can provide the safety net every digital user deserves.
