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Data from the ACCC’s annual Targeting Scams report, released this week, indicates scammers don’t discriminate and are targeting a range of different communities in Australia.
Australians lost over $634 million to scams in 2019, according to the latest figures in the ACCC’s Targeting Scams report released today.
Australians are set to lose a record amount to scams in 2019, with projections from losses reported to Scamwatch and other government agencies so far expected to exceed $532 million by the end of the year, surpassing half a billion dollars for the first time.
Scams reported to the ACCC involving identity theft or the loss of personal/banking information have cost Australians at least $16 million this year, and this figure is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.
Australians are losing more money to NBN scams, with reported losses in 2019 already higher than the total of last year’s losses.
Scammers are increasingly catching out people by impersonating well-known businesses or the police so they can get access to computers and steal money or banking information.
SCAMwatch and Telstra are warning consumers to hang up the phone if they receive a call out of the blue from someone claiming there is a problem with their internet connection or computer.
SCAMwatch is warning people thinking about buying a franchise or small business to beware of exciting new franchise opportunities that may actually be scams.
Joint action between three international regulators has thwarted a massive global phone scam, with US authorities winning court orders to close down and freeze funds of imposters posing as Microsoft employees offering to fix PC viruses.
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.