Disturbing scam activity has been reported in New South Wales and the national watchdog says data breaches may be involved.
Key points:
- The ACCC, which runs the ScamWatch website, says it is unusual for scammers to visit people in person
- Targeted people say the encounters have left them feeling less safe in their own homes
- $323m was reported lost to con artists last year, but the ACCC says the real figure is probably much higher
Rose, from Alstonville on the state’s north coast, says her 93-year-old neighbour was left traumatised after a scammer persuaded her to withdraw $9,000 cash and arrived at her home that evening to collect it in person.
She said the con man knew where her neighbour banked and claimed he was investigating suspicious activity in her account.
Luckily Rose realised something was amiss and she and her husband were able to send the scammer away before he collected the cash.
“[My neighbour] said to me yesterday that she feels quite violated, her privacy has been tampered with, and she hasn’t been anywhere since this incident,” Rose said.
Police are investigating.
A similar incident occurred in Evans Head when scammers contacted Dorothy’s elderly neighbour.
Those scammers claimed they were from the woman’s bank and needed her help setting a trap to catch a crook.
The woman was talked into withdrawing $7,500 cash for scammers to collect from her home…
