A WA police station and members of the public have been targeted with hoax calls by malicious hackers.

Similar attacks have been reported by police stations in Victoria and NSW.

The attack involves abusive recorded messages and “missed call” alerts that reroute to police stations. Kalgoorlie police received more than 100 calls on Monday from people who were returning missed calls on their mobile phones.

It is understood the calls came from different numbers but all diverted to the police station and when answered, the public could hear an abusive recorded message, while staff at the police station could hear only the person who called.

Three State Government employees have reported receiving suspected hoax calls to their mobile phones that they did not answer. They did not return the calls, which were from unknown numbers, because they had been warned about the national phone attacks.

A Government spokesman said police were investigating and suspected someone had used a computer program to call multiple mobile numbers and leave a missed call message.

The spokesman said that only certain lines in the Kalgoorlie Police Complex appeared to have been affected.

“Staff from other business areas were brought in to assist with call-taking so no legitimate calls to police for assistance would be impacted,” he said.

The spokesman said he had no reports of landlines within government departments being targeted and was not aware of any disruptions to government services as a result of the hoax calls. WA Police, the Australian Federal Police and authorities in the other affected States are investigating.