The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today issued a warning to remind consumers about the increasingly innovative techniques scammers use to lure unsuspecting victims into handing over their hard earned money. The ACCC's warning comes as part of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce campaign which was launched yesterday.
"Australians continue to lose substantial amounts of money to a wide range of scams," ACCC's Deputy Chair, Ms Louise Sylvan said. "You work hard for your money, so don't part with it to a scammer with a dead-end offer."
Ms Sylvan offered the following key tips on avoiding scams:
- Never respond to an email asking for your PINs or passwords. Suspect a scam if you are asked for your account details or passwords. These are your keys to your money and should be kept secret. Genuine banks and credit unions will never send you an email asking for personal security details like your Internet banking password or PIN.
- Never send money to someone you don't know or trust. Be wary of emails and telephone calls from people you don't know. Do not send money to collect winnings from lotteries you never entered.
- Only invest with licensed financial services providers. Do a quick search of ASIC's website to ensure that the advisor or firm holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). If they don't hold an AFSL they must be employed by, or authorised to represent, a business that is licensed by ASIC. Also, check the list of illegal schemes on ASIC's consumer website, FIDO. Remember though, just because something isn't listed, it doesn't mean that it is okay.
Some recent examples of scams reported to the ACCC which have targeted consumers' money include:
Unsolicited offers
Letters announcing unexpected lottery wins, extraordinary predictions from unknown psychics to invoice-like letters soliciting domain name registrations and business directory entries all have one thing in common – they are designed to take your money.
While the busy small business office is the target for directory/domain name offers, the lottery and psychic letters seem to appeal to the older consumer.
Lured by the belief that "my turn has come" or "just think what I could do for my family", older consumers are responding to hundreds of notifications from regular "promotions". This avalanche of colourful envelopes, bogus seals and trust marks, urgent reminders and official documents from lawyers are netting scammers large sums of money from some of the most vulnerable members of the community.
Most of the letters ask for small sums of money, $30 being the most common. Once these small sums are multiplied by hundreds of letters the amount adds up. Individual losses of $15,000 over a period of 10 months have been reported.
So strong are the advertising techniques used in these letters, that some consumers hide their activities from their family and friends refusing to believe that they are being scammed. Even personal warnings from authorities are ignored.
Dating scams
These include premium numbers/joining fees being used to generate income for not so 'genuine' dating services and potential partners who are in reality advanced fee fraudsters operating out of online dating services.
Complainants have reported that once having joined genuine/reputable online dating agencies they are contacted by an attractive female (photo provided). Once the online relationship has advanced, requests/demands for money begin. Various spurious reasons are provided with the most obvious being the fare for a visit. Once the money is sent, more money is requested for sick relatives and so forth. The visit of course never takes place.
A twist on this scam is the addition of another layer in the scam hierarchy. A request is made for money to 'release' a large sum of inherited money. This is very typical of the Nigerian style/advance fee fraud.