If someone rings your Perth office claiming to be "IT support," "Microsoft," or "your internet provider" and asks you to install AnyDesk, TeamViewer, or AnyViewer so they can "fix a problem" on your computer — hang up. That single call pattern is behind remote access scams, which ASIC says are now one of the top three scam categories hitting Australian small businesses, with reported losses of $4.9 million. This week is also Scamwatch's national Scams Awareness Week (24–28 August), running under the theme "No one's just a number" — a timely reminder that these calls target real businesses, not statistics, and Perth is not exempt.
How the scam actually works
The pitch varies, but the mechanics are consistent:
- A cold caller claims your computer, network, or NBN connection has a fault, a virus, or "suspicious activity" that needs fixing immediately.
- They talk you through installing a legitimate remote-access tool — AnyDesk and TeamViewer are the two most abused, precisely because they're real, trusted software your own IT provider might also use.
- Once connected, the scammer has full control of your screen, your files, and anything you're logged into — email, online banking, accounting software, cloud storage.
- Some ask for an upfront "fix" or "subscription" fee by card or transfer, harvesting your payment details in the process. Others use the access to hunt for banking credentials or plant something for later.
The reason this scam keeps working is that it borrows the exact language and tools a real IT support company uses. Staff have been trained, correctly, that IT sometimes needs remote access to fix things — so an unexpected caller sounding technical and urgent can slip past normal scepticism.
Why business owners are being targeted specifically
ASIC's warning this month singles out small businesses, not just individuals, and links the surge partly to cost pressures — inflation, rising overheads, and business insolvencies mean owners are more likely to act quickly on anything framed as a cost-saving fix or urgent problem. Remote access scams sit alongside false billing and investment scams as the categories doing the most financial damage to Australian businesses right now.
For a Perth business, the exposure is real: if a scammer gets remote control of a reception PC or a director's laptop, they're often one step from your business banking, your Microsoft 365 tenant, or your clients' data — which turns a phone scam into a data breach and, depending on your industry, a reportable one.
The three checks that stop it
Scamwatch's Scams Awareness Week campaign boils protection down to three steps, and they apply directly here:
1. Stop
Don't act on urgency. A caller pushing you to install something right now because of an "active threat" is using pressure as a tool — genuine IT issues can wait five minutes for you to verify who you're talking to.
2. Check
Hang up and call your actual IT provider back on a number you already have on file — not one the caller gives you. Your real support team will never mind you double-checking. If the call claims to be Microsoft, your bank, or your internet provider, the same rule applies: look up the number yourself.
3. Protect
Never grant remote access to anyone who called you unsolicited. If you're not certain, don't install anything. If access has already been granted and something feels wrong, disconnect the internet on that device immediately, change any passwords that were visible or used during the session, and call your IT provider to check for anything left behind.
What we tell clients on our own support calls
Because our technicians do use remote access tools like AnyDesk and TeamViewer for legitimate support, we're conscious this scam trades on our own industry's normal way of working. A few habits make the difference:
- We only ever connect to a device when you've contacted us, or when we've pre-arranged a specific job with you — never on a cold call.
- We identify ourselves clearly and you can always call our office line back to confirm before granting access.
- If in doubt, don't click, don't install, and don't stay on the line — call us and we'll tell you straight away whether it's legitimate.
Building this checking habit into your team costs nothing and takes a few seconds, but it's the single most effective defence against a scam that's currently costing Australian businesses millions. It's worth raising in your next team meeting, alongside a reminder of how to spot the ATO and myGov impersonation scams that are running the same playbook by phone and SMS.
Get your team scam-ready
Scams Awareness Week is a good prompt to run a five-minute refresher with staff: who's allowed to ask for remote access, what your real IT provider's number is, and what to do if someone feels pressured on a call. If you'd like help putting a simple policy in place — or want a second opinion on a call that felt off — our IT security services cover exactly this kind of staff awareness and access control. We've been a Perth-based IT provider since 1997, so if you're ever unsure whether a caller claiming to be "IT support" is really us, get in touch and we'll tell you straight away.
