There are scammers and fraudsters in Australia selling counterfeit or inferior-quality calling cards on the market today. This is largely due to the growing popularity and cheapness of calling cards that are provided by reputable phone card companies. Beware of shops selling phone cards for deep discounts to the face value of the phone cards as these cards may be stolen and may not work.

First-timers or “newbies” as they are affectionately known in the scamming community are the most common victims in this phone card scam.  So, given the immense amount of competition for the international telephone card market, we have decided to provide you with some essential tips and tricks to avoid getting robbed.

Tip 1: Ask Around

The best way to avoid scams is simply talking to people who often use these calling cards. Usually, they will tend to be new migrants or people that are in touch with the international community.  A close friend or a family member that uses prepaid phone cards will be of great assistance to you.

Tip 2: Shop Around

Use internet phone card comparison sites such as www.phonecardstar.com.au to search by location, by brand and by price. Make sure that the website you are buying phone cards from is secured with an SSL certificate before you buy. There should be a padlock on the bottom right hand side of your browser in the screen that you enter your credit card details. If you are not comfortable buying a phone card over the internet then you can also call the toll free contact number on the website to buy a phone card by phone. Your phone card’s PIN and instructions will be emailed to you, so that you can start calling with the phone card that you ordered instantly.

When looking for viable calling cards think about:

1. What destinations you want to call: if you only want to call one destination, you can often get a great deal to that country alone. This deal will often not be as a good if you meander and call outside countries as most phone cards will have a very cheap rate for one or two destination but not for all destinations. For example a card may be good for calling South Africa and another card may be good for calling the United Kingdom. However, the card that is good for calling South Africa will often not have an attractive rate to call the United Kingdom. Sometimes it may be worthwhile getting more than one card if you are planning to call more than one destination.
2. What online forums saying about phone cards for calling particular destinations: Try some specific online search queries for your particular need, such as:
   “calling Singapore from Australia” or “call Australia to China cheap” or “phone India from Australia”
3. Also try some research for specific phone card brands. Looking through the forums you will find that GoTalk had mixed reviews, whilst other popular calling cards as A1 phone card have a very good reputation and seem to have no complaints.

Tip 3: Read the fine print

Read the fine print. Sometimes you inadvertently buy a phone card that charges secret administration fees and ongoing maintenance fees. These cards will charge you a fee each day or each week even though you are not using the phone card. If your phone card credit is mysteriously disappearing this might be what is happening. Also ensure that your card expiry lasts you long enough. Most phone cards have a 3 or 6 month expiry date. Websites such as  www.phonecardstar.com.au sell phone cards with “no tricks” and a long expiry period. Any phone card that is sold on the website that has expired but has not been fully used up can be refreshed by recharging for a minimum of $10. For example a phone card has a 6 month expiry period. In the eight month you try to use the phone card but you hear a recorded message that the phone card has expired however, you still have $5 on the phone card that has not been used. If you recharge for $10, you will receive $15 which can be used for a another 6 months.

Tip 4: Buy in Bulk

When you buy say a $50 prepaid phone card over a $10 you will usually get free bonus call credits which means that you can call for free. You will also save time in the future as you will not have to keep calling back or revisiting a site to recharge your phone card balance.