Stay out of scams' way: how to avoid being milked

In the wild west, snake oil salesmen would skilfully present a product, espousing wonderful results at a never to be repeated price just for you.

Having made their financial killing, they’d disappear, leaving a hapless victim with nothing more than a bottle of coloured water to show for it. We’d never fall for that would we? Older Australians are a trusting lot and are significantly over-represented in scamming losses in Australia.

In this article, Citro explores current scams that are doing the rounds and explains how to stay out of scams’ way.

The wild west is now our screens

Sadly, snake oil salespeople still abound, but their wagon of choice is the internet, mobile phone, email, messaging, and fake websites.

Their coloured water is promises of money waiting to be deposited or paid to you, free trips, better power plans, help for your child, and a hundred other tall tales, all skilfully delivered. In 2021, Australians aged 65 and over lost $82 million of the $1.8 billion reported to the ACCC’s Scamwatch. That was more than twice the 2020 figure of $38 million.

Gone phishing

Phishing is fraudulent activity where an attacker sends an email or text that purports to be genuine, often luring the victim to an equally fraudulent website.

They are often accompanied by scary content such as, Your account has been hacked. Update your password now.

This plays on the victim’s fears and frightens them into a fast, ill-thought-out response. Login details are used on a fake website, or banking details are revealed.

Game over! Advice: Don’t play the game.

My child is in trouble … spring into action!

A favourite scam is to send a text message saying something like, ‘Hi mum, I’ve lost my phone, this is my new number’.

What follows varies but will play on the heartstrings and usually asks you to pay an urgent bill that’s due today, and so on.

In 2022, some 1150 Australians lost $2.6 million to these clowns.

“Update your bank details now to thwart scammers!”

Well, you’d better get straight onto that! Damn scammers. Except, it’s the scammers you will supply your details to by phoning a false phone number, going to a fake website, or responding to an email that isn’t from the bank at all. Scammers will go to any devious lengths to get your personal details.

These high returns on my money would be a real help

One particular scam doing the rounds involves a very convincing pitch to provide high returns, all to do with cryptocurrency, but it could have been anything. One victim reports eventually investing a little money. The company’s website was extremely professional looking, and the victim was able to log into their account and see impressive charts and graphs – they could see their money growing daily. Brilliant! The follow up pitch easily convinced them to put in a great deal more – they did. Overnight, the website disappeared, along with the unfortunate victim’s savings.

What to avoid to avoid being scammed

• Don’t engage with any phone call from someone you don’t know – no matter how friendly they seem.
• Don’t ever provide personal details via phone call, message, or email reply.
• Don’t ever be lured by tempting promises – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
• Your bank will never ask you for a password or PIN – if someone is asking, don’t respond.

How to protect yourself from online scams

• Go to websites by typing in the URL address, or by using a bookmark that you created.
• Investigate such resources as Paypal, Apple Pay and Google Pay so that you can pay for things without ever revealing your bank or card details.
• Always look at the from address on any suspect email – it will usually be a giveaway.
• Use unique and strong passwords – nobody can remember all those things, so don’t try. Use a good password manager on your computer so you only have to remember the one: your password manager code.
• Use 2FA (two factor authentication) whenever it’s available. Sure, it’s a bit inconvenient, but so is losing your hard-earned savings.
• Cold calls from anyone – talk straight over the top of them by saying no thanks, and hang up. Then block their number.
• Strange messages and emails – don’t touch them – delete them.

Identity fraud is real: sometimes big companies leak

If your personal details like phone, email, address or identity documents have been leaked in a data breach. Here's what Moneysmart says your should do:

• Report the data breach to your financial institutions – Let your bank, super fund and any other financial services know.
• Contact IDCARE – Call 1800 595 160 (Monday to Friday, 8am–5pm). They can help you make a plan (for free) to limit the damage.
• Create a new, stronger password – Make sure you haven't used it before. If you've used the leaked password anywhere else, update it there too.
• Watch out for suspicious contact – Look for suspicious emails, phone calls, texts or messages through social media. Block or don't answer anyone you don't know. Don't click on any links.
• Monitor your bank account – Keep a close watch on your bank account for any unauthorised transactions.
• Monitor your credit report – Request a temporary ban on your credit report to ensure no unauthorised loans or credit applications can be made.

Don’t trust the snake oil people. They don’t want to help you, and all they have is coloured water.

Report any suspected scam to Scamwatch.