Richard Max, a retiree from Salamander Bay, beat off three scam attempts last month.

Mr Max, who is savvy about scammers having worked in insurance and banks all his life, was phoned by people claiming they were from Telstra, Centrelink and the National Australia Bank.

The call from Telstra had Mr Max believing at first that his internet and computer had been compromised and that someone in Africa was using his network to hack computers in Australia.

"It sounded at first to be quite legitimate and to me very concerning," Mr Max said.

He verified the operator's legitimacy but as the conversation went on, Mr Max become increasingly suspicious.

He was hung up on after he said he would talk to one of his friends in Telstra security before allowing the operator to gain remote access to his computer.

The second call came from 'Centrelink', who kindly rang Mr Max to inform him of an 18 per cent increase to his pension.

Only, the operator needed some banking information.

"I told him that this is all very interesting and that the increase is most welcome but I am not on a pension."

He was again hung up on.

The third attempt came from someone posing as NAB questioning a "fraudulent transaction" that had been made on his credit card.

"This one I knew immediately was a scam."

After telling the operator he would check with his friends at NAB security, Mr Max was once more hung up on.

He contacted Telstra, Centrelink and NAB to tell them of the scam attempts.

Mr Max said his concern was that no general alert was issued about the current scams they knew to be happening.

He worried that others would not be as savvy and questioning as him and be open to having not just their money stolen, but their computers hacked and information taken.

Information about current scams was made available on scamwatch.gov.au and residents suspicious of scams are urged to report them via the website.