Online Scams Still Hooking Millions of Aussies

By now everyone should have heard about the Nigerian Prince who wants to give away a million dollars right?

What about the woollies reward voucher you get for liking a Facebook post.

How about the investments that banks don’t want tell you about?

If you think that sounds like a hype up then you’re correct. They are all examples of scams that have been tried over and over again.

We would like to think that as a nation, we’re getting smarter when it comes to scams as they re receiving a lot more publicity than in the early days. unfortunately this isn’t the case.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s latest Targeting Scams report details the levels to which Australians were duped out of their hard-earned cash.

In 2018, Australians were duped out of at least $489M, well that’s the figure that was reported to ACCC and it could even be more

What’s particularly concerning here is that those figures are up from the same period in 2017.

Reported crimes were up 5%, but with a worrying 22% rise in actual losses. The ACCC says that the elderly, those with disabilities and indigenous Australians are particularly at risk.

Straight up investment scams were by far the most costly scam category, with a reported $38,846,635 lost to investment scams. Dating and romance scams came next, with an estimated $24,648,024 lost to those pretending to offer permanent partnership to love-lost Australians.

Every other scam category, including online shopping scams, threats of arrest, betting and prize and lottery scams tipped in at between $2,000,000 and $5,000,000. These are not small sums to lose collectively, and for some it’s a question of their live savings being sucked away.

If somebody’s pitching you a deal “too good to be true”, then it probably is. Just keep in mind how hard it is to earn something, so why would someone else give it away so freely? Do your research!