Kevin Williams might have lost his money after he gave personal details to a woman who called him.

She claimed to be from the Commonwealth Bank and cited a fictitious 'Department of Fair Trading'.

"I hope they don't scam the elderly people here," Mr Williams said.

"I thought I would keep the scammers on the line, to see what I could get out of them but I advise people to hang up on them.

"I've had no problems with my account."

On Wednesday a woman, 'Angel', called Mr Williams' home and asked for him. He said the woman sounded like she had an Asian accent.

Angel told Mr Williams the Department of Fair Trading had won a court case against the banks overcharging on overdrawn fees, so the banks had to reimburse all customers.

The woman confirmed Mr Williams was a 'long-term' Commonwealth Bank customer and then gave him a password.

Angel said a man from the department would call Mr Williams the next day and would quote the password.

She said Mr Williams would have to pay an interest charge to the department in order to get his money back.

Angel asked for Mr Williams' card details and he gave her his key card number, date of birth and home address, but not his key card password.

On Thursday a man, 'Alistair', called Mr Williams.

He said the man had fluent English with a slight accent.

Alistair said Mr Williams would have to pay a $490-fee to department director 'Belinda Rogers', to receive his $4892.20 back.

He said Mr Williams had to use a Western Union money transfer form from a post office and gave him a suspicious-looking phone number.

Mr Williams later attended Horsham Commonwealth Bank and Horsham police.

A bank employee told Mr Williams his account was fine as he did not give away his password, while the police told him to contact the Mail-Times.

A Commonwealth Bank spokeswoman said the bank would never call people and ask them to provide personal details or make them do groundwork to receive money.

A Consumer Affairs Victoria spokesman said this type of scam was generally known as a 'reclaim' scam, the latest version of a type of scam called 'advanced fee fraud'.

The spokesman said consumers should never pay money upfront to receive 'free' money, because they would never see their money again.

More information about scams is available at www.bankers.asn.au or www.consumer.vic.gov.au.

Consumer Affairs Victoria also has a dob-in-a-scam hotline, 1300 55 81 81.