Scammers swindled nearly $4.7 million from Australian businesses in 2017 according to the ACCC’s latest Targeting scams report – a 23 per cent increase compared to 2016.
Scamwatch is warning people to watch out for scammers setting up fake ads pretending to sell adorable puppies, with more than $310,000 lost and 584 reports about this scam in the past 12 months.
Scamwatch is urging all Australians who lost money to a scammer through Western Union from 2004 to 2017 to take action by the extended deadline of 31 May to try to get it back.
Scammers often use the names of non-existent realistic sounding institutions like “the Federal Bank of South Africa” or “the European Consumer Protection Bureau”.
Have you recently received a spam email offering you work as a 'transfer manager' or 'financial' manager for an overseas company? These 'job offers' are scams!