Australians scammed $1 billion over the past year

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kbot on July 31, 2008 at 4:29pm

I'm surprised by these figures. They seem high. Personally I've never met anyone who has been scammed online. Has anyone here met anyone? Is it really that common?

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Permalink Reply by Bytta on July 31, 2008 at 5:14pm

Kbot,

Most people will not admit that they have been scammed. It's an embarassing thing to admit that you have been duped. I think it's not a matter of stupidity, but more to how the vendors sell it and play with people's emotions.

That being said, i was scammed once :D
It was a sophisticated one with excellent system online and thousands of people involved from many different countries. It's amazing how fast the system spreads with no marketing efforts.
In the beginning it was excellent. I received great returns but i got greedy.
In the end, I didnt lose my money much because i got most of it back before the scammers ran away with a few millions $$ and left thousands of people with little to no life savings.

It's easy to say that we must think logically and control greed and fear.

Anyone who is successful with this, please contact me as i will need to pick your brain.

In real world, there are too many factors involved. Scam becomes harder to detect as the vendors become more sophisticated, subtle and smarter.

For me, the realistic way to avoid them (now that i have the experience) is to ask them 1001 questions and never never invest money i cannot afford to lose.

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Permalink Reply by Bandwidth on July 31, 2008 at 10:00pm

Hello Bytta

The comment "never never invest money i cannot afford to lose" i have a bit of trouble with because if someone makes a bad choice they can water it down by saying well I was willing to lose is anyway.

The scam marketers pray on that mindest by promoting you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Thinking logically is saying does this make sense under normal conditions. If the promoters say it can't wait then "WHY"

Doing a bit of research such as look up the company on company register has it had previous names. Search the web for the ABN and or company phone number. Does the address match where the company is registered.

If it smells a bit funny then maybe it is off.

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Permalink Reply by Warren on August 1, 2008 at 11:58am

I go by the rule that if it sounds too good to be true, then it most definitely is.

Money is not easy to come by, but it is oh so easy to lose. Bytta, you're right though, it's not easy to control the emotions of fear and greed, and this is precisely why people will ALWAYS be scammed.

We just need to make sure it is not us and the key is to - as Bytta suggests - ask 1001 questions.

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Permalink Reply by Bandwidth on August 1, 2008 at 12:06pm

My rule is slightly different if it sounds to good to be true investigate more.

There are gems out there

When investigating and questioning always be honest with yourself and be open about what you find :-)

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Permalink Reply by Bandwidth on July 31, 2008 at 4:53pm

The easiest way to avoid scams is think logically rather than with emotions eg fear and greed

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Permalink Reply by LS on July 31, 2008 at 7:40pm

The FIDO website had this info:

In the 12 months prior to interview, identity fraud accounted for 3% or nearly half a million (499,500) scam victims in Australia, with 54% of victims being males. Of these, 77% (or 383,300) were exposed to credit or bank card fraud, experiencing at least one unauthorised, fraudulent transaction using their credit card or bank account details.

Other results from the survey include:
- A total of 806,000 Australians reported they were victims of at least one incident of personal fraud in the previous 12 months. This represented 5% of the population aged 15 years and over.
- Half a million Australians experienced a form of identity fraud. The majority 383,300 (77%) were victims of credit or bank card fraud; identity theft accounted for the balance.
- Nearly 6 million Australians (36%) were exposed to a range of selected scams; that is they received, viewed and/or read an unsolicited invitation, request or notification designed to obtain personal information or money or obtain a financial benefit by deceptive means.
329,000 people fell victim to at least one type of scam by responding to or engaging with the unsolicited offer. The three main categories of selected scams were: lotteries (84,100 victims), pyramid schemes (70,900) and phishing and related scams (57,800).

My question is: how many of these scammers are caught?

LS

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Permalink Reply by Bandwidth on July 31, 2008 at 9:33pm

A Damn site less than their victims. A large number of them are in countries where corruption is common and the legal system is not friendly to foreigners.

Some of the ways to handle scammers are
Use an email forwarding service with good filters such as pobox.com
Shred personal paperwork
Use BCC in mail rather than CC and encourage all to do the same
Don't be silly
Don't be greedy
Don,t be tempted
Do due dilligence
Get a security token for your Internet banking
Check bank accounts regularly
Don't panic when you receive those weird emails
Be very responsible for your actions
Be Vigilant

As I was always told "A fool and his money are easily parted"
If I am sounding like a parent then maybe they had good advice

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Permalink Reply by patric p on September 9, 2008 at 7:36pm

Hi Guys,
I have no tips, but commonsence prevails, I am in a lucky situation where I have no relations and don't expect to be left any money in wills or other situations.
I cannot believe that a starveing Nation like Africa or any other third world country
wants to give me, who they don't even know my name. want's to give me trillions of dollars. If one reads between the lines, all the money is from dead people.
The person who writes the email just happens to be else where and has deposited the money for you to collect.
Lotto from big companies? World Organizations ? Giveing money away, No Chance. The Latest Scam on the internet is for goods and services, especially
when one clicks onto a search engine.
We have deducted $685 from your credit card account, click this link for details of your shipment.
I have been cought out by a company called Mobileeft, supported by Billexpress
and sponcered by St Georges Bank, lost a lot of money, the administators don't even return my calls or my emails. Now thats not a scam but Money lost all the same. Its called hard luck.

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Permalink Reply by Mary M on September 10, 2008 at 1:10pm

*****WARNING********

Watch out for this latest type of scam, where people are sending very believable emails about your credit card, or purchases you have made (which you haven't really made). They're trying to get you to open an attachment - BEWARE - the attachment is a virus or a way of getting into your computer.

Here is an example below:

"Credit card transaction report (Visa, MC)

Dear Valued Customer:

As requested, we are sending you this report on transactions with your credit card completed between 1/1/2008 and 9/1/2008.

The report containing your account details is attached to this message. Please download the attached document to view or print it.

Respectfully,
Ernestine Peoples

Manager of Visa / MasterCard
Credit Card Services

________________________________

If you believe this message has reached you by mistake, please forward the document identification number provided on the enclosed report to our customer service department."

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Permalink Reply by patric p on September 10, 2008 at 3:06pm

Hi,Mary M,
I have received one already, it is for airline Tickets.
if you open the link it graps your passwords from your financial institutions be it credit cards or bank account.
American Express have already sent out warnings.

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Permalink Reply by marc schwarz on September 10, 2008 at 5:15pm

one of the latest scams comes through dating sites where so called young attractive girls contact men and after a few emails tell them of their undying love for the man and then ask for $1,000 to $2,000 at least in usd to send so they can come over but the reality is a lot come from ghana and is a play on the letters from africa There is no young girl it is is some guy sitting in who knows where trying to scam money They probably think if they can get enough to say yes then they make money but i think they come from a lot of other places so thats another scam

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