'It was just so frightening': Local residents targeted by NBN scam

Graham Uebergang was recently victim to a highly sophisticated scam that saw him nearly losing the large sum of money.

"It was just so frightening," he said.

"It was just as though it was actually real."

As legitimate NBN upgrades were happening around Mr Uebergang's home he was contacted by would-be scam artists fronting as NBN representatives.

Over an hour-long phone call the scammers coerced Mr Uebergang into revealing his banking information, using technology to send legitimate looking messages from his bank.

The scammers used a two step authentication process that mimicked the banks, even masking the messages with official looking emblems.

"I resisted and then it was, well, I was just totally taken in by it because he was so... it was just so real," Mr Uebergang said.

"It was just really full on."

It wasn't until Mr Uebergang received an alert saying $2000 had been spent on his account in Sydney, that he contacted his bank.

Mr Uebergang said he was told he was lucky he'd caught the scam so early as money had already been moved in preparation to send to a different account.

"It was so quick as well, all within an hour and he moved straight in on the banks," Mr Uebergang said.

"The fraud department said that they seem to be targeting old people.

"But we were so lucky that I rang and asked what was going on.

"I reckon he was just about to move the whole lot."

The bank refunded the man's $2000.

Although Mr Uebergang said he was able to stop the scam, he had been left shaken by the whole experience.

"I've always been very careful but I just wasn't careful enough on that day," he said.

"We were so close and we were all so worried."

Leading Senior Constable Malcolm Agnew urged people to be vigilant as scams were becoming increasingly realistic.

"Some of them are looking quite professional now," Leading Senior Constable Agnew said.

"Now it's a thing that's growing and we need to be really aware of what we're clicking on.

"If people are ringing up asking you for bank details or asking to make donations to things that you're not sure about it, do not do it."