Crime statistics show 10 per cent spike in fraud and 20 per cent rise in shoplifting

A FRENCHS Forest man has been fleeced of more than $73,000 after thieves posed as Telstra staff and convinced him to “pay off” a scammer because he would be reimbursed.

Constable Adam Rose and Sergeant Ian Church during a police operation targeting shoplifting at Warringah Mall

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A FRENCHS Forest man has been fleeced of more than $73,000 after thieves posed as Telstra staff and convinced him to “pay off” a scammer because he would be reimbursed.

The sophisticated scam comes as crime statistics reveal a 10 per cent spike in fraud on the peninsula in just two years.

Theft of mail from letterboxes, internet fraud, card-skimming devices on ATMs and the use of stolen bank cards at pay-wave facilities have contributed to the rise in fraud offences.

Police said the 64-year-old victim of the internet scam was using his home computer about midnight on Monday last week when he received a phone call from a private number.

The caller claimed to be from Telstra and told the man his computer was being hacked by an overseas source.

To the victim’s horror, he could see his screen being accessed as the cursor moved around opening and deleting personal files.

Constable Danielle Osborne looking at the security of mailboxes. There has been a rise in the theft of mail from letterboxes to be used in scamming or stealing money from bank accounts.

Posing as the telco, the scammer told the man the best way to fix the problem was to pay the hacker to regain control of his computer. The scammer then told the worried man that the phone company had helpfully credited his account and he should use these funds to pay the hackers via Western Union.

What the victim did not realise was that the money that appeared to have been credited to his bank account was from another of his own accounts.

Police said three transfers were made to the hacker totalling $73,200. The victim reported the matter to his bank, which is now investigating the matter.

Northern Beaches Police crime manager Inspector Craig Wonders said most internet frauds originated overseas.

They sometimes resulted from victims opening email attachments that infected their computer with malicious software, sometimes called Trojans, which could delete, block, modify or copy data on the victim’s computer.

A Telstra spokesman said the scam was concerning and that scams from overseas were likely to increase in the future.

The only other offence that has increased on the peninsula in the past two years is shoplifting, which has risen by 20 per cent.

Northern Beaches Detective Inspector Craig Wonders said most internet frauds originated overseas. Picture: Braden Fastier

Northern Beaches local area command’s Superintendent Dave Darcy said he was pleased with the statistic because it showed how effective the command’s street policing team had been.

“The street policing team has been hammering shoplifters,” he said.

“The shoplifting figure is good news because it’s the result of the street policing team working with large retail stores and complexes on joint operations targeting shoplifters,” he said.

Supt Darcy also referenced the statistics on non-domestic violence-related assaults on the northern beaches, which have decreased by more than 17 per cent in the past two years.

“That’s a solid figure, especially as we’ve put a lot of effort into reducing alcohol-related violence,” he said.

“The street policing team has put pressure on the licensees and it continues to pay dividends.”

BOCSAR said robberies had fallen more than 44 per cent over the past 24 months, thefts from dwellings had fallen nearly 11 per cent and malicious damage by more than 10 per cent.