The Australian Government has issued an urgent warning and claimed “timeliness is crucial” in protecting a person’s finances in scamming attacks, as it’s revealed a whopping $16M has been lost to devious masterminds already this year.
Warnings have been issued to all around the country to be safe online and report any suspicious activity immediately, with the ACCC’s Scamwatch claiming four in 10 reports in 2019 have involved attempts to gain information or even more worryingly, the actual loss of victims’ information.
ACCC’s Deputy Chair Delia Rickard has provided some words of advice for Australians, explaining the importance of contacting banks as soon as possible to prevent those dollars going down the drain.
She said banks should be contacted as soon as possible to prevent loss of income, even in a scam completely unrelated to finances.
“Timeliness in alerting your financial institution is absolutely crucial and will give you the best possible chance at recovering your funds,” Rickard explained.
“The trick is to be alert to the signs. If your mobile phone suddenly loses coverage, you haven’t received expected electronic or physical mail, or you receive unexpected notifications from a financial institution, call your bank.”
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There are many ways for scammers to obtain personal or banking information with just a few clicks of a button, with various scams targeting certain demographics.
This includes, fake online quizzes and surveys, phishing emails and text messages which impersonate banks or utility providers seeking your login details and remote access scams in which the scammer has direct access to everything on your computer.
Alternatively, scammers can source information about you from social media platforms, or seek information through direct requests for scans of a driver’s licence or passport, often in the course of a dating or romance scam.
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“No one is really selling an iPhone for $1, or rewarding the completion of a survey with expensive electronic goods or large gift vouchers,” Rickard warned.
“They’re scams to get your valuable personal information. The identity thieves can make victims’ lives a nightmare. They’ll change the victims’ phone carrier so they lose service and set up mail redirections so they’re in the dark about what’s going on.”
Scammers can cause great damage by emptying victims’ bank accounts, taking out tens of thousands of dollars in bank loans under the victim’s name and purchasing expensive furniture or electronics under ‘no-repayments for 12 months’ schemes.
Read more: Scams on the rise: Aussies conned out of half a billion dollars last year
According to the ACCC, lost personal information also leaves victims more susceptible to future scams, with scammers also able to use the victim’s personal information to seem more convincing in cold calls.