AUD $70 million goes up in smoke to scammers

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 01 March 2010 21:32

Your IT - Home IT

Online Aussies lost a total of at least AUD $70m throughout 2009 as a result of online scams, and while people should really know better these days, the scam spam and other online scams remain rife in the quest to defraud you in your offline and online life.

The world wide web is, more than ever, the wilder wild web, with online scammers finding online users to be very easy and profitable prey.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), an Australian government body, which today launched the 'Targeting Scams' report, the ACCC Deputy Chair Peter Kell said that: '"Scams continue to make up a large proportion of total complaints that the ACCC receives and more than 20,000 scam reports were made to the ACCC in 2009 - a 16 per cent increase compared with 2008.

"Realistically, this figure is likely to be the tip of the iceberg - given people can be embarrassed about reporting that they have fallen victim to scams and lost money in the process."

The report is being followed by a new '2010 Fraud Week' campaign, called 'Online Offensive - Fighting Fraud Online', and runs from the 1st to the 7th of March,

So, what were the top 10 scams of 2009? They are as follows:


Type followed by percentage:

1. Advance fee / up-front payment (Nigerian style)       
32.4%
2. Online auction and shopping                                   
16.6%
3. Lottery and sweepstake                                         
10.8 %
4. Unexpected 'prize'                                                 
9.0%
5. False billing (advertising, directories, domain names)    
6.8%
6. Banking and online account (including phishing)          
6.7%
7. Job and employment (including business opportunity) 
5.0%
8. Dating and romance (including adult services)            
2.7%
9. Mobile phone (ringtones, competitions, missed calls)   
2.4%
10. Computer prediction software (including betting)       
2.4%

The ACCC notes that the above percentages have been rounded and thus do not total 100%.

The ACCC says that it has 'seen very significant increases in reporting of certain types of scams', with Mr Kell adding that: 'The ACCC recorded an increase of over 100 per cent in reports about online shopping scams during 2009, compared to 2008'.

Continued on page two, where you'll also find a link to the report - please read on!