Logan residents are being urged to stay vigilant as scams ramp up and become more difficult to spot in the wake of recent major data breaches.
The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission’s (ACCC) Scamwatch says scam activity is “out of control” as fraudsters use information stolen from organisations including Medibank and Optus to target individuals.
They’re seeing increased phishing emails, phone calls and SMS or social media messages.
Attorney-General and Waterford MP Shannon Fentiman said people over the age of 65 have this year recorded the largest amount of losses to scammers than any other age group.
“Australians over the age of 65 have reported almost four times the amount of losses to scammers in August this year compared to August 2019, before the pandemic,” she said.
Ms Fentiman said the top three scams are investment scams, dating and romance scams, and remote access scams where the victim is tricked into giving remote access to their computer, phone or tablet only to have their private information stolen.
“Investment scams promising big payouts or quick money are overwhelmingly the biggest scams people lose money to. And my advice is, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” she said.
“A recent scam is the ‘Hi Mum” scam, where the victim receives a text from someone impersonating a family member saying they’ve lost their phone and asking the victim for money.”
Some other common scams going around include an international court scam email, phone calls impersonating your bank or service provider, phishing texts impersonating Optus prompting you to update your MyGov details, and unpaid toll text and email scams.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), more than $381 million has been lost to scams so far this year.
Ms Fentiman said scammers can also respond and adapt quickly when their scam is exposed by rolling out a new one.
“My advice … is to check the ScamWatch website regularly to stay updated on the latest scams and how you can avoid them,” she said.
“It’s important that people talk about scams because by reducing the stigma around scams, we can help more people learn to identify and avoid them.
“Tell your friends and family about ScamWatch and IDCARE so they know how to spot a scam, avoid being scammed, and importantly, know what to do to reduce identity theft.”
Scamwatch says if you’ve been scammed out of money, report any lost funds to your bank. If you’re unhappy with the bank’s response, seek free advice from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
