The year has seen a fresh start for fraudsters and scam artists, seeing another spike in COVID-19 scams and text-based cons.
Australian Community Media has compiled a list of current scams identified on sites such as scamwatch.gov.au, cyber.gov.au and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s website dedicated to informing people about fraudulent and dishonest activities.
Don’t be scammed out of your donation
- Scamwatch is urging residents wishing to donate to flood or Ukraine charitable appeals to check and make sure their donation is going to a legitimate organisation.
- Scammers often capitalise on a crisis and use current events to convince you to ‘donate’ to their scam.
- Only donate if you can verify that a charity is legitimate by searching the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit’s Commission register: acnc.gov.au/charity/programs/map.
Scam protection tip
- No Australian government or law enforcement agency will ever request remote access to your devices. If a “government worker” calls or texts and claims there is a problem with your device and asks to access it remotely, just hang up or delete the message because it is a scam.
LOOK CLOSELY: According to Scamwatch.gov.au, emails like this may look convincing, but on second look there are signs of a scam. If in doubt, contact the provider directly. Picture: Scamwatch.gov.au
Bills, invoices and subscriptions: makes sure it’s not a scam
- Keeping track of subscription payments and bills can be tricky, however Scamwatch…
