Almost $1m lost to online scams in 18 months, Territorians urged to be cautious

Online shoppers are being urged to be wary of scams as the NT Consumer Affairs details they have shut down 73 scam sites since 2019.

ONLINE shoppers are being urged to be wary of scams as the NT Consumer Affairs details they have shut down 73 scam sites since 2019.

The organisation has found in total $907,000 has been reported as being lost in the Northern Territory since November 2019.

Acting Commissioner Sandy Otto said methods of deception were becoming more sophisticated and scammers were stealing genuine ABNs to register domain names and set up websites.

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She said regular online shoppers could normally spot scam sites due to the inferior quality, however they were often well presented, contained bogus sales staff, goods plagiarised from other websites, and contained many of the features that you’d expect on a reputable site.

“They also use the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to avoid personal interaction with customers, or as an excuse to prevent customers from trying to visit their non-existent showroom,” she said.

Since November 2019, the NT Consumer Affair’s compliance unit has detected 77 scam websites – 73 of which have been shut down.

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Ms Otto said scam phone calls also remained an issue for Territorians.

“Territorians are reminded to be very careful when receiving calls or text messages from people that you don’t know and ask you for personal information or ask you to click on a link,” she said.

“If someone says you have won a prize and asks for your personal details or asks for money so that you can claim a prize, hang up, block the number, it is a scam.”

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