A useful record helps you remember decisions, explain the sequence to a bank or provider and avoid repeating the same actions. It does not prove what happened, establish forensic findings or guarantee an outcome. Complete urgent money and account actions first.
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Make a private, proportionate record
Capture observations and references without collecting secrets, unnecessary personal information or material from other customers.
Do the urgent actions before administration
Stop engaging with the suspicious contact. If money, card details or banking access may be involved, contact the bank or card provider through an official app, statement or independently located website. Ask what protective action is available and record the provider’s response and reference number.
If an account may be affected, use the provider’s official security or recovery route from a trusted device. If remote access occurred, tell the bank when financial information may have been visible. For reporting options, use ReportCyber guidance; call 000 for an immediate threat to life or risk of harm.
Write a simple private timeline
Record the date and approximate time, how contact arrived, what you saw, what you did and what happened next. Use broad categories such as “email address”, “password”, “card detail”, “verification code”, “identity document” or “remote access”. Do not write the actual secret, full number or code.
Separate observations from inferences. For example:
- Observation: “At about 2:10 pm, a caller said they were from a delivery company and asked me to install remote-support software.”
- Inference: “This may have been a remote-access scam.”
That distinction keeps the record accurate without claiming that an unfamiliar sign-in proves an attack or that no warning proves an account is safe.
Keep useful copies without creating new risk
Keep original emails, messages, invoices or screenshots where it is safe to do so. Make redacted working copies for sharing, removing passwords, verification codes, full payment numbers, identity-document numbers and unnecessary personal details. Do not reopen suspicious links or attachments to retrieve more material.
Use a private folder with a clear date-based name. Record the organisation contacted, the channel used, the time, the reference number and the next owner. A report reference shows that a report was made; it does not prove the report’s conclusion or guarantee investigation.
Track decisions and follow-up
Make a short action list with one owner and status for each item: bank contacted, card reviewed, account recovery started, provider reference saved, report submitted, trusted contact told and follow-up date. Add only the information needed to complete the action.
Be alert to follow-up recovery scams. Do not pay an unexpected helper who promises guaranteed recovery or asks for remote access, passwords or codes. If you need support, choose the bank, provider, official reporting service or a trusted local person through independently verified details. The Scamwatch guidance includes support and reporting pathways, but no source can promise a particular bank or recovery outcome.
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If you’d rather have local help, see our onsite scam and account-security assessment.