The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has issued a warning about scam phone calls from people who may claim to be from EQC and ask for personal and financial details.

"EQC wants to ensure that customers are talking to someone who is genuinely from EQC and not someone who is looking to steal money or confidential details from them," says General Manager Customer and Claims, Trish Keith.

"One of our customers was phoned by a man on three separate occasions this week, claiming to be from EQC, and wanting to talk about their 'personal claim'. It was this type of approach that made the customer suspicious and they then notified us.

"In another case last month, a customer was offered an assessment of their property, but was then asked for information about their bank account and credit cards. Fortunately they also suspected that the call was not genuine."

She says EQC will not ask for money before carrying out an assessment and there are always a set of security questions on both inbound and outbound calls to determine authenticity.

"Our teams follow very strict procedures when contacting customers about their claims and any payments they are making to us. EQC will ask for bank account details in some instances, such as if we are about to make a settlement.

"If you are not comfortable with providing these details over the phone, we can discuss alternative methods on how you can provide this information. EQC would never ask for a PIN number, credit card details, or other confidential information such as passwords and user names."