Scamwatch is warning consumers to beware of fake lotteries or competitions on social networking platforms, with scammers using popular platforms to pedal these empty wins.
SCAMwatch is warning people to beware of online scams – surveys, emails and social-media posts – offering fake gift vouchers or other bogus inducements in return for disclosing credit card and other personal information.
SCAMwatch is advising consumers to continue to be on the look out for scam scratchie cards in their letterbox. You may think you’re a big winner but scammers will ask you for thousands to claim a prize that never arrives.
SCAMwatch is continuing to warn Australians to beware of scams delivered by phone with the ACCC receiving over 43,000 reports of scams perpetrated this way in 2011.
More than $300,000 will be returned to consumers who were victims of North American-based scams after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission court intervention.
SCAMwatch has seen a steady increase in reports about lottery scams, particularly from older Australians. If you receive a lottery scam, delete or destroy it.