Almost everyone will be the target of a scam at some time – you may have been already. Some scams are easy to spot, while others can happen without you even knowing it. It is designed to trick you into giving away your money or your personal details. Scams succeed because they look like the real thing and are crafted to appeal to your needs and desires.
Common scam include:
- lottery and competition scams
- investment or ‘get rich quick’ scams
- money transfer requests or ‘Nigerian’ scams
- banking and online account scams
- employment scams
The people who run these scams (scammers) are imaginative and manipulative; they know how to push the right buttons to produce the response they want.
Many scams originate from outside Australia and once money is sent overseas it is virtually impossible to recover.
SCAMwatch is a website run by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). The aim of SCAMwatch is to provide information to consumers and small business about how to recognise, avoid and report scams.
Scams that are reported to SCAMwatch will be analysed by the ACCC. Many scams originate overseas or take place over the internet, making them very difficult to track down and prosecute. If you lose money to a scam, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover your loss. The ACCC publishes this website to help consumers recognise scams because prevention is definitely a better option when it comes to scams.
Some tips for protecting yourself from phone scams
- Be suspicious of unexpected calls and text messages.
- Hang up. Or text ‘STOP’ to unwanted messages.
- Don’t give your number to just anyone.
Some tips for protecting yourself from internet scams
- Keep your protection software up-to-date
- Don’t respond in any way to unsolicited emails
- If in doubt, delete
