SCAMS BY CYBER CRIMINALS HAVE INCREASED EXPONENTIALLY OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS WITH OLDER AUSTRALIANS DELIBERATELY TARGETED.
In the pilot of GemLife’s new lifestyle show Living Proof’s Tech Savvy segment, respected tech journalist Stephen Fenech explains the current landscape of the booming business of scamming and how people can protect themselves from identify theft and financial fraud.
“Since the pandemic began, scamming has skyrocketed in terms of sheer volume, and also sophistication,” he said.
“Australians lost $323M in scams in 2021, up from $175.6M the year before. Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it received 16, 915 reports of over-55s who had been scammed.”
Stephen suspects the true number of victims is significantly higher with many older Australians embarrassed to admit they had been duped.
“There is a lot of shame in getting scammed, so I believe it’s underreported. I’d say it’s at least ten per cent more than the official figures,” he said.
“Criminals see the older demographic as easier targets because they are less tech savvy than younger people and many have large sums of money in life savings and superannuation.”
Scammers do two things – steal money and steal identities.
“When it comes to identities, there is an entire black-market industry that operates on the dark web in much the same way a traditional business operates with 9 to 5 office hours,” said Stephen.
“They are looking for names, addresses, phone numbers, banking information, personal details etcetera that they will sell to a third party that might take out a loan or a credit card in your name, buy a phone in your name, or create a fake passport,” he said.
On top of email and call-centre scams, criminals are also targeting smartphones with scam text messages.
When it comes to scamming, Stephen said the most important thing to remember is ‘do not respond’.
“Be wary of requests for money or requests to transfer money via unusual payment methods such as pre-loaded credit cards, gift cards or virtual currency. Phishing emails are often designed to look like they’re from banks, the post office, utility companies or other financial institutions,” he said.
“There is usually a sense of urgency about these emails or text messages. The best thing you can do is not respond and go directly to the source to verify the authenticity.
“Knowledge is power. Always check if the communication is real with the source, have strong passwords and protect yourself with tools such as two-factor authentication.”
Stephen is one of Australia’s most respected and well-known tech journalists with more than 30 years of experience. He is editor of Tech Guide, a co-host of the popular podcast Two Blokes Talking Tech, and a regular on radio and television talking about the latest tech news, products and trends.