Our $1.3bn scam shame: Why it can happen to anyone

‘Hi Mum, I’ve lost my phone’, ‘please text me back, I need your help’. Barely a day goes by when my phone isn’t targeted by some grub trying to fleece me, writes Kylie Lang.

Barely a day goes by where Kylie Lang isn’t targeted by some sort of scam.

Barely a day goes by that my phone isn’t targeted by some grub attempting to fleece me.

“Hi Mum, I’ve lost my phone and am using a friend’s. Please text me back as I need your help” is a common one, without the proper punctuation and spelling, of course.

I’m also called on to pay bogus road tolls and all manner of non-existent accounts.

The digital age that has brought the world closer has also delivered a deluge of scammers.

Whether foreign or homegrown, con artists are in abundant supply – where would current affairs shows be today without dodgy builders and other rotten swindlers?

And so, we’re told to be vigilant. You never know when you’ll become a victim.

The default position should be suspicion.

Years ago who’d ever have thought we would need something called Scam Awareness Week.

That’s right, an entire week (August 26-30) devoted to helping us not get ripped off.

“Being scammed is not a sign of weakness,” says the National Anti-Scam Centre, the very existence of such a place a sad indictment of society.

“It can happen to anyone, anytime. Everyone has a part to play in shutting down criminal scammers,” its website states.

Last year, Aussies made more than 600,000 scam reports to Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange, IDCARE and ASIC.

This was an 18.5 per cent increase on 2022 – which indicates we’re either better at reporting or scammers are breeding like rabbits.

Investment scams caused the most harm at $1.3bn, followed by remote access scams at $256m and romance scams at $201m.

But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says it’s not all doom and gloom: “The National Anti-Scam Centre’s collaborative efforts across government, law enforcement, consumer organisations and industry have boosted the community’s fight against financial crime, as the latest Targeting Scams report reveals a 13.1 per cent decline in reported losses to $2.74bn in 2023.” Woohoo, only $2.74bn.

Scams come in myriad forms.

This week I reported on a Brisbane fashion designer whose original creations are being falsely advertised on overseas websites and social media accounts.

Kristian Williams is irate at the “disgusting behaviour” in which eight of his designs – priced at up to $649 each – have been replicated by three online operators advertising them for as little as $86 a pop.

The brazen operators also have been using Mr Williams’ professional images of models wearing his garments, photographs for which he paid thousands of dollars.

Mr Williams did the right thing. He contacted Scamwatch.

He also wrote to the operators, threatening legal action if they didn’t stop using his images and intellectual property.

Two sites appear to have complied. A third has digitally altered Mr Williams’ images, photoshopping a different head on the models. The garments and poses remain identical.

ACCC deputy director Catriona Lowe says shoppers are also victims.

“We have seen an alarming increase in reports of fake online shopping website scams, which use the latest technology to look like genuine, well-known Australian fashion and footwear labels,” Ms Lowe says.

“A recent, disturbing development is that scammers are paying for their fake websites to appear at the top of your internet search.

“This means you can’t necessarily trust the first listing you see.”

Ms Lowe says scammers are also using social media platforms to set up bogus stores and to advertise their fake websites. The theme of this year’s Scam Awareness Week is “share a story, stop a scam”.

A worthy pitch but I prefer to share a story my father tells of a time when a man or woman was only as good as their word.

Like back in the 1960s when he sold a bloke a car, but the purchaser didn’t have enough money on him so Dad gave it to him anyway.

Sure enough, the next month the guy returned to settle the debt.

These days, that guy and that car would be dust.

We find ourselves in the awful position that to trust is to be foolish.

If you’re looking for honesty, your best bet is a dictionary.

Kylie Lang is Associate Editor of
The Courier-Mail
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