Credit card and bank account scam alert

Scammers are attempting to gain access to the bank account and credit card details of an energy supplier's customers.

One electricity supplier has issued an alert to Australians about a telephone scam.

The con involves people pretending to be from Aurora Energy and ringing up customers, asking them for their credit card and bank account details, ABC News reports.

And when they have consumers on the line they tell them their electricity supply will be switched off unless they provide the information.

Paul Bloomfield, from the Tasmanian government-owned business, said he believed that once the scammers gained the details they would try to take money out of people's accounts, but it is not a process the firm even deals with.

He added: "The only time we take bank account details from our customers is if a customer calls us, if anyone calls from Aurora Energy looking for account details, then please ignore that request."

This news comes after it was announced that at least 50 people had been tricked into giving pin numbers and details from their bank accounts by a Russian web page, which was claiming to be a Westpac bank site, the Herald Sun reported.

By Nate Sawyer