"Beware the scam artists" by Steve Marsten

Scammers and fraudsters are alive and well here in Gladstone. This week a client was contacted via phone from someone claiming to be from Telstra. He even gave my client his “personal (Telstra) phone number” which looked legitimate. After several calls my client felt uneasy and realised his banking system had been compromised via his own computer. 

This is not the first example in Gladstone of the “Telstra employee” ringing to discuss checking your line or your bills. After a couple of hours all bank accounts, credit cards and phone lines had to be shut down. It can be debilitating and a nightmare to get re-established. Think of all the direct debits that may have to be changed over or as in this case, various direct credits from their investments had to be changed.

Yes its peak trading conditions for the fraudsters. Apparently over the past six months the ACCC revealed that approximately $45 million was siphoned out of Australian bank accounts and into the back pockets of these scam artists. The ACCC believes that this represent only 10% of the real scams being perpetuated on the average Australian. The average amount people are losing is $9,000 a claim. So it’s not small bickies.

Small business needs to be most wary about possible scams however it can happen to anyone. Scams to be on the lookout for include:

1.       Online shopping – if the sale is too good to be true, it probably is. Remember you get what you pay for.

2.       Always ask questions if you are unsure of the person or the company. Ask for their phone number then stick it in Google and see what comes up. Ask for their full name and ring the head office. Often if it’s legitimate - the home site should come up – if not more than likely you won’t have been the first one scammed!

3.       Never open suspicious attachments – ever! Often the email address is a giveaway; i.e. we recently saw an email supposedly from the ATO however 00ATO1.net was the giveaway. Australian organisations have very clear initials in their emails.

4.       Always use passwords to lock your digital devices and change them every few months.

5.       Never agree to transfer money or goods for another person. It may turn out to be money laundering.

And finally if it looks a little odd and doesn’t feel right, it’s often not right. Trust your intuition. 

At Sothertons we keep our clients scam aware whenever possible. Ring us for more information on 4972 1300.