Phones smart, so are scammers, as Aussies ripped off for $236m this year

Are you fast on your phone? It’s a trap - and scammers are banking on it. Here’s how to keep safe and protect your identity.

Scammers are targeting smartphones as Aussies spend their lives on them.

Smartphones have become the most powerful tool in many Australians’ lives and their rapid evolution is putting our money and identities at risk – with scammers getting more and more cunning.

The speed at which people use phones to email, text, transact, surf the internet and post on social media has made them even more vulnerable as scams increase both in number and sophistication.

New data from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission shows scams originating over the phone have increased 74 per cent this year, with 126,000 reports of attacks.

Total losses between January and October have surged 87 per cent to $236 million, and ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard says an increasing number of reports are coming from younger victims.

“Scams are becoming more and more sophisticated, using technology to make their scams even harder to detect,” Rickard says.

ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard.

Digital identity protection company Digimune Australia’s CEO, John O’Brien, says phones and the huge amount of data held on them have become a big target for hackers.

“Many people don’t even carry a wallet as you can tap and go via your mobile,” he says.

“People live on their phones and it’s putting them at risk.”

O’Brien says people should be careful when sharing credit card data and have good security on their devices.

Antivirus company Kaspersky’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Margrith Appleby, says the ACCC’s scamwatch.gov.au site has a handy list of current scams and how to avoid them, while kaspersky.com.au’s blog has dozens of articles about smartphone rip-offs.

“Smartphones are now used to access some of the most private and sensitive information in our lives,” she says.

“We link our banking, emails, social media, fitness trackers and other sensitive data to our phones, so they are a perfect centralised target for scammers.”

Appleby says you can protect yourself by:

• Never responding to unsolicited or possibly fraudulent messages, even if you’re asking to be removed from a mailing list, because it confirms your number is active.

• Setting a six-digit PIN rather than the standard four digits, to make hacking in to your phone harder.

• Installing a call blocking app that can identify scam attempts and stop them from reaching your phone.

• Using a password manager to encrypt and store your unique passwords.

“Contact your bank directly if you’re not sure whether it’s an important message from your bank or a scam,” Appleby says.

“Make sure to source the phone number from the bank’s website – whatever you do, don’t use any contact details from a suspicious text.”

People's Choice Credit Union spokesman Stuart Symons.

People’s Choice Credit Union spokesman Stuart Symons says smartphones have become a major target because “virtually everyone has one and we use them all the time”.

“We do so much on our phone that it’s easy to make mistakes,” he says.

“Heading into Christmas we all have to be even more diligent because we spend more time online shopping.

“For example, Australia Post is expecting parcel traffic to increase by 30 per cent in December, which means the opportunities for scammers only increase as well.”

Symons recommends people sign up to scamwatch.gov.au to receive email alerts about the latest scams to watch out for.

“A major concern currently is the Flubot Scam, which sends messages to your phone pretending to be from legitimate sources – voice messages, parcel delivery firms, even recruitment companies – which basically say click here for more details,” he says.

“Unfortunately, people then click through without thinking, and effectively open the door to viruses and other malware.”

BEWARE OF THESE SMARTPHONE SCAMS

• Smishing uses SMS messages to trick you into clicking on a malicious link through a text message about a fake problem, such as a blocked account or delivery issue.

• Voice phishing – where scammers call you and impersonate a government or business to convince you to share personal information or pay money.

• Phishing and fake links in messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

• One-ring scams from an unknown number, where you can charged for calling back.

• Instagram phishing, where scammers impersonate people or brands and may offer fake giveaways or pretend to be influencer sponsors.

Source: Kaspersky.com.au