Scam losses on the rise as more Tasmanians fall victim

More Tasmanians are falling victim to scammers and are losing larger amounts of money, with losses so far this year totalling almost as much as the whole of last year.

SCAMMERS are ripping off Tasmanians in increasing numbers and for higher amounts.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scam Watch website shows that this year Tasmanians lost more than $2m to the end of August – not far behind the $2.12m lost for the whole of 2020.

The biggest losers are Tasmanians aged over 65 who have been ripped off $682,539 followed by those aged 55-64 who have lost $440,657.

Investment scams accounted for Tasmanians losing $907,229 followed by dating and romance scams ($349,775) and false billing ($211,534).

Tasmania’s building and consumer regulator CBOS has also recorded a rise in consumer-related scams.

Since July last year, there have been 19 inquiries, compared to 11 in 2019-20 and 14 in 2018-19. Eleven of the 19 complaints related to phone, banking and puppy scams.

Puppy scams are on the rise.

Scams can be promoted via text message, phone call, email, post, or even at your front door.

“Business scams are also on the rise, where a scammer provides an invoice from a seemingly legitimate company, but with different banking/payment information in the hopes that someone in admin will automatically process the payment,” a Department of Justice spokesperson said.

The ACCC said the increase in scam reports for Tasmania reflects what is happening around Australia with increased losses to investment scams.

The Australian Banking Association has just launched a new campaign warning about scams after its research revealed 37 per cent of Australians have lost money or know a close friend or family member who has lost money to a scam and 66 per cent of Australians fend off a scam attempt every week

“Scammers don’t target one group over another, they target all people of all backgrounds, ages and income levels across Australia,” ABA chief Anna Bligh said.

The ABA said $851 million was lost to scams last year with the number of scam calls reported to Scam Watch up 145 per cent.

A new scam text message that impersonates government COVID-19 contact tracers.

Labor Senator for Tasmania Catryna Bilyk said a joint select committee inquiry into cyber safety for seniors, which she chaired eight years ago, found that seniors were particularly vulnerable to scams.

“The findings and recommendations of that committee are still relevant today,” she said.

“The best weapon we have against scams is our own knowledge and awareness.

“Sadly, without a renewed effort to equip people with the tools they need to recognise and avoid scams, the amount of money lost by victims will continue to grow as the digital economy grows.”

Like many Tasmanians, you’re probably sick of being bombarded with scam text messages about supposed package deliveries.

Council on the Ageing Tasmania chief executive Sue Leitch said COTA ran an IT mentor program providing one-on-one support for older people and part of that was aimed at protecting people online.

“We all need to be careful as scams are getting more sophisticated every day,” she said.

“Older people tell us they avoid answering the phone at home from unknown numbers as they are specifically targeted during office hours as they are more likely to be at home.”

The annual Day at the Beach at Kingston fell victim to a scammer over a flag order. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

President of the annual Day on the Beach at Kingston Else Phillips was shocked when the volunteer group ordered some flags from a West Australian company for the Australia Day event and was scammed, losing $718.

“The ABN was legitimate, the CEO used his own name and the phone number was legitimate but it was only after the flags didn’t arrive and our calls and emails went unanswered that we went to consumer affairs,” she said.

“We were told the owner had left the country taking everyone’s money.

“Everything looked kosher and it was very sophisticated and professional.”