Ballarat police have issued a warning about scammers calling homes and asking for bank details, with three people aggressively targeted in the city in the last week.
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Some of the callers pretend to be from Telstra and claim they need access to personal computers before asking for passwords.
Leading Senior Constable Janine Walker stressed residents should never read out personal details over the phone, saying elderly residents living alone were particularly vulnerable.
“Nobody is going to call you cold unless you’ve made an initial inquiry or complaint,” she said.
“If somebody rings you out of the blue without any prior prompting or knowledge about an issue then it’s fairly safe to say that person is trying to scam you.”
Peter, who did not want to give his last name, said he was targeted last month by a man purportedly working for Telstra.
"He had an Asian voice and said he was from Telstra," he said.
"He asked if I get unwanted calls and he said ‘I can stop that tomorrow but I need some credit card details’.
"I was thinking, this is bullshit, but I'll play along with you.
"He started to get annoyed, but for someone older he could've sounded very plausible.”
Australians lost more money to scammers last year than in any other year since the ACCC began reporting on scam activity.
Total losses reported were $340 million – a $40 million increase compared to 2016.
Police have received intelligence on three elderly people being targeted in Ballarat in the past week.
However, it is difficult to catch scammers when so many calls are from overseas.
“It’s beyond state law,” Leading Senior Constable Walker said.
“In a lot of cases, it’s even beyond national or Commonwealth law.
“It’s an international problem and crime.”
ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard previously said scams were a big problem across the country.
“It’s very worrying that Australians are losing such extraordinary amounts to scammers,” she said. “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.
“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.”
The ACCC encourages people to visit www.scamwatch.gov.au to report scams so it can warn others about them and learn more about what to do if they’re targeted by scams.
If you have crime information that could help solve a crime call Crime Stoppers.
