13 February 2006

New taskforce warning on scams—Delete it, Hang up, Destroy it

The Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce today launched a four-week campaign to help educate consumers about the danger of scams and help avoid them becoming the next victim, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, said today.

Scams are a global problem with many popular scams emanating from overseas, making it difficult to take action against the perpetrators. Consumers who respond to these scams nearly always lose their money, and most never see it again.

Taskforce member agencies across Australia receive thousands of complaints and calls for help each year about scams received by e-mail, telephone and ordinary mail—the key message is to ‘delete it, hang up and destroy it’.

Many Australians became victims of the third biggest pyramid scam, in terms of money lost, when consumers bought about 156,000 Skybiz ‘webpacks’ amounting to nearly A$20million between 2001 and 2003.

Australians have also lost considerable sums to advance fee scams where letters and emails purporting to come from Nigeria solicit money. After losing money, some of the people affected have even attempted to defraud others using similar scams.

One Sydney man lost more than A$700,000 while an Adelaide businessman lost more than A$2.3 million to such a scam. In another case, a Japanese businessman is said to have lost US$5 million.

“All of these scams promise much and deliver nothing. The key message for consumers is ‘Don’t help the scammers to scam you’,” Senator Coonan said.

“The Government provides advisories on a range of scams and threats to consumer confidence. The Taskforce’s work is critical in the fight against scammers. Having Federal and State agencies team up to provide a whole of Government approach is an excellent means of increasing awareness among Australian consumers.”

“I welcome the opportunity for the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the Australian Communications and Media Authority to contribute to this important awareness raising initiative,” Senator Coonan said.

Consumers who think they have spotted a scam can check it out at the ScamWatch website at www.scamwatch.gov.au, which posts information and warnings about the latest scams, or report it on 1300 795 995.

Background

Consumer scams are crimes such as forgery, counterfeiting, on-line deception, and theft that are targeted at people who seek to purchase goods and services. Potential victims can be those who use computers and the Internet, older people, those who use professional advisers, and young people who use mobile phones.

As part of a whole of Government approach to combat consumer fraud and scams targeted at consumers, the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce was established in March 2005 and comprises 18 government regulatory agencies and departments in Australia and New Zealand.

Agencies participating in the Taskforce are:

Australian Government:

New Zealand Government:

State and Territory Governments:

The Taskforce welcomes the participation of private sector organisations in delivering its key messages. A list of the Taskforce’s private sector partners can be found at www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/scams/partners.asp