A reminder to our clients to be aware of emails from scammers claiming to be from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) asking you to pay fees, click on a link or give personal information for your business name renewal.
You may also receive emails from other companies e.g. ‘Registry Australia’ that provide renewal services but charge more than the ASIC cost to renew your business name.
The renewal notice is most likely to be genuine if:
- The renewal notice is received via email (ASIC only post renewals if you do not have an email recorded)
- The email is from Transaction.No-reply@asic.gov.au
- The renewal notices are issued 30 days before your business name renewal date
The renewal notice is most likely to be a scam if it:
- Asks you to make a payment over the phone
- Asks you to make a payment to receive a refund
- Asks you for your credit card or bank details directly by email or phone
- Asks you to pay fees that are different to the ASIC fee
- Arrives outside of ASIC’s timeframes
- Uses very similar looking email addresses to ASIC’s.
If you think you may have been scammed:
- Do not send any more money
- Report it to your bank or financial institution
- Report it to ASIC by forwarding the entire email to ReportASICEmailFraud@asic.gov.au
- Be wary of secondary scams or services claiming they can recover your losses
- For more information on what to do if you’ve been scammed, visit ASIC’s Moneysmart website.
You can call ASIC’s Customer Contact Centre on 1300 300 630 for verification if you are unsure whether you have received the email from ASIC.
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