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Data from the ACCC’s annual
Targeting Scams report, released this week,
indicates scammers don’t discriminate and are
targeting a range of different communities in
Australia.
In 2019, people who reported speaking
English as a second language lost $13.7
million, an increase of 90 per cent on the
previous year, despite the number of reports
remaining steady.
This increase was mainly from investment
scams, which accounted for over $5.3 million
in losses in this group.
“Investment scams often begin with cold calls
promising low risk investments with high
returns and can go on for months, resulting in
high individual losses,” ACCC Deputy Chair
Delia Rickard said.
“If a deal sounds too good to be true, it
probably is. Don’t let anyone pressure you
and make sure you take the time to research
the investment opportunity and get financial
advice before agreeing to anything.”
Dating and romance scams had the next
highest losses in this group at $2.7 million,
followed by scams using threats to life or
arrest at $1.7 million.
“Chinese authority scams continue to target
the Mandarin-speaking community by
accusing victims of perpetrating a crime, and
threatening arrest or deportation if they do not
provide money, or information such as their
bank account balances and identity details,”
Ms Rickard said.
Losses to Chinese authority scams in 2019
increased by 40 per cent on 2018 figures, up
to $2 million.
Last year, 4.6 per cent of reports to
Scamwatch came from people who speak
English as a second language and 1.6 per
cent came from people who identified as
Indigenous.
“We want to encourage all community groups
to report to Scamwatch and not feel
embarrassed or ashamed if they have been a
victim of a scam,” Ms Rickard said.
In 2019 there were 2,767 scam reports from
Indigenous consumers, a 14 per cent increase
from 2018, but the $2.1 million lost was 30 per
cent lower.
Again, the most financially harmful scams in
this group were investment scams, with over
$1.1 million lost. This was followed by dating
and romance scams with nearly half a million
in losses.
“If you have provided your account details to a
scammer, contact your bank immediately and
if you have any concerns about your safety,
contact the police,” Ms Rickard said.
“The ACCC has translated our Little Black
Book of Scams into ten different languages to
assist the wider community to learn about
scams and how to avoid them.”
“We are also continuing our Indigenous
outreach programs and sharing scam
warnings on the Your Rights Mob Facebook
page,” Ms Rickard said.
For more information about scams
visit www.scamwatch.gov.au and
follow @scamwatch_gov on Twitter.
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