Displaying items by tag: SCAMwatch

Losses to imposter bond investment scams have nearly tripled in the first half of this year with consumers losing over $20 million to these sophisticated scams, according to the competition watchdog the ACCC.

Consumers have been warned about ongoing scams where scammers are impersonating well-known telecommunications or tech companies like Telstra, NBN Co and Microsoft.

Australian businesses lost $227 million to payment redirection scams in 2021, a 77% increase compared to 2020.

Scammers stole over $66 million last year from Indigenous Australians, people who identified as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and people with disability, according to new data from the ACCC’s annual Targeting Scams report.

Phone calls were the most common contact method used by scammers to target victims in 2021, while text messages were the second-highest contact method used by scammers.

Australians lost more than $2 billion scams in 2021 despite initiatives set out by the government and the private sector, according to ACCC’s Targeting Scams report.

New industry rules for telcos will help protect consumers from the devastating impact of scams that target customer interactions with providers, which cost individual victims in Australia an average of around $28,000.

Scamwatch, a website run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, urges the public to be mindful of dating and romance scams after the organisation reported a total loss of $56 million last year, up by 44%.

The Federal Government says it has taken strong action to shut down scam text messages, making an important regulatory amendment empowering the telecommunication sector to identify and block SMS scams at source.

“Let’s talk scams” is the theme adopted by more than 350 partners across government, private and community organisations who have joined the fight against scams in this year’s national Scams Awareness Week.

Middle aged and older Australians suffered the brunt of scams in September with those aged 45 to 54 the hardest hit financially during the month and the aged 65 and over reporting the highest number of scams at 5,642.

Australians have lost over $70 million to bogus investment scams in the first half of this year and a massive increase in losses are predicted by the end of the year, according to the consumer watchdog the ACCC.

New South Wales residents were the most financially impacted by scams in July, accounting for 37% of the total amount lost in the month.

Security provider Proofpoint notes the massive growth in scams reported in the latest Scamwatch report, drawing attention to the fact that Australian losses to scammers reached 80% of 2020's total in just six months.

Scammers have stolen more than $7.2 million from Australians so far this year by gaining access to home computers, an increase of 184% compared to the same period last year.

Telstra announced a further milestone in its “Cleaner Pipes” initiative protecting Telstra customers, blocking on average 13 million scam calls per month.

Australia’s second largest telco Optus says that in 10 years working together with global anti-phishing and online brand protection company FraudWatch they have taken down more than 3,171 phishing emails, brand abuse, fake mobile apps and fake social media sites.

Australians have already lost over $288,000 to vehicle scams in the first quarter of this year, more than all losses reported to Scamwatch in 2019, and scammers have now begun impersonating defence personnel to con their victims, according to the consumer watchdog, the ACCC.

Australian businesses reported over $14 million in losses to Scamwatch due to payment redirection scams last year, and average losses so far in 2021 are more than five times higher compared to average losses in the same period in 2020, according to the ACCC.

Scammers are using telephone calls, SMS messages and emails to take advantage of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout.