Australians lost more money to scammers in 2017 than in any other year according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and many Ballarat residents have fallen victim.
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The ACCC’s Targeting Scams report released on Monday reveals total losses of $340 million from more than 200,000 scam reports, a $40 million increase from 2016.
This is the first time reported losses to scams have totalled more than $300 million, demonstrating the increasing impact of scams on Australians.
Scamwatch is asking people to ‘stop and check: is this for real?’ when they’re contacted by scammers who are pretending to be from well-known government organisations or businesses.
The campaign is a part of Scam Awareness Week which runs nationwide from May 21 to 25.
ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said it was worrying Australians were losing such extraordinary amounts to scammers.
Based on just the reports provided to the ACCC, victims are losing an average of $6500. In some cases people have lost more than $1 million.
- Delia Rickard, ACCC deputy chair
“Some scams are becoming very sophisticated and hard to spot. Scammers use modern technology like social media to contact and deceive their victims. In the past few years, reports indicate scammers are using aggressive techniques both over the phone and online.”
Data shows investment scams topped the losses at $64 million, an increase of more than 8 per cent. Dating and romance scams caused the second greatest losses at $42 million.
Delacombe resident Gerald Mallon, 81, received a scam call about two weeks ago, but hang up when the caller began asking for private and irrelevant information. The caller had promised to stop ‘nuisance calls’.
“He asked me to confirm my name, my address, and my phone number and I kept saying ‘yes’. Then he said I pay my phone bills by direct debit. I said ‘what has that got to do with stopping nuisance calls, I’m not answering that’ and he hung up.
“I got the impression the next question would be about my bank details. I didn’t fall for it but another elderly person might have.”
Ms Rickard said more than 2800 people gave their personal information threat-based scammers, which in many instances were frightening.
“For example, scammers will impersonate the Australian Taxation Office and threaten people with immediate arrest unless they pay an outstanding tax bill. They may pretend to be from Telstra to try to hack into your computer or from Centrelink promising extra payments in return for a ‘fee’,” she said.
“If you’re being threatened, take a deep breath, and ask yourself if the call makes sense. The ATO will never threaten you with immediate arrest; Telstra will never need to access your computer to ‘fix’ a problem; and Centrelink will never require a fee to pay money it owes you. None of these organisations will ask you to pay using iTunes gift cards.
“If something doesn’t feel right, hang up the phone or hit delete. If the person said they were, for example, from Telstra or the ATO, find the phone number for that organisation online or in the phone book, call them and let them know about the call you received. They’ll let you know if it’s genuine or a scam.”
Visit www.scamwatch.gov.au to report scams.
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