A Hunter resident has welcomed the federal government’s new scam awareness campaign, which encourages people to STOP. CHECK. PROTECT.
Whether it’s fake emails, unexpected phone messages or online schemes, swindlers are costing Australians billions of dollars each year as they find additional ways to gain trust and steal money or personal information.
And, they’re becoming increasingly complex and hard to spot, according to Maitland’s Geoff Thompson.
The father-of-three was almost duped for $4,000 after receiving a text from who he thought was his eldest son.
“Seriously, at first, it appeared as the real deal,” he said.
“Although I didn’t recognise the phone number, the messaging sounded like something he’d say.
“It went along the lines of ‘hey dad, I’m in a bit of trouble and need your help. I borrowed $3,980 from a friend and he wants it back straight away. Can you pop the money into my account?’
“I then rang him but got his answering service.
“For the next couple of days, we kept missing each other… that escalated the tension a bit.
“Then another text arrived, which sounded more desperate.
“And, because I hadn’t heard back from my son in person, I started to think it might be fair dinkum.
“But, throughout it all, something seemed off.
“Thankfully, we ended up touching base and he assured me everything was okay.
“However, I can understand why some fall for such cons.
“I know it wasn’t a lot of money but anything higher would have been suspicious straight away.”
The latest national crusade, backed by the Australian Banking Association (ABA), urges people to “stay smart”.
“Scams are a blight on our society. Every dollar lost is a dollar too much,” CEO Anna Bligh said.
“While Australia is one of the few countries in the world reporting declining losses, ongoing community education and awareness of the risks that they pose is absolutely critical.
“This campaign is an important reminder to all of us, that as we go about our daily lives, it pays to remain vigilant to the risks of scams.
“Scammers will continue to evolve their tactics to trick Australians and that’s why we all need to be on high alert.
“Our industry fully backs the clear messaging of this cause – if something doesn’t feel right, make sure you stop, check and protect yourself from scams.
“While awareness is key, banks are also continuing to take the fight to scammers with world-leading safeguards to keep your money safe.
“Our industry’s Scam-Safe Accord is seeing financial institutions put in place new scam protections including confirmation of payee technology, more payment warnings and delays, identity checks and enhanced intelligence sharing.”
The banking industry’s Scam-Safe Accord includes:
- A $100 million investment by banks in a new confirmation of payee system, ensuring people can confirm they are transferring money to the person they intend to
- Introducing more warnings and payment delays to protect customers
- Adopting further technology and controls to help prevent identity fraud, such as the use of at least one biometric check for new individual customers opening accounts
- Investing in a major expansion of intelligence sharing across the sector
- All banks to implement anti-scams strategies
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