Beware if it sounds too good to be true
websites. Others lure people into buying a fake crypto wallet or trick them into giving away their seed phrase (which acts as the master key to a wallet).
Crypto isn’t the only area attracting crims. Bond scams are also on the rise. This involves scammers impersonating legitimate companies to sell fake high-yield corporate or government bonds. Scammers often promise high yields for short-term investments and direct investors to send money to a bank account that would be managed on their behalf. In many cases, victims noted they were contacted after submitting queries on investment comparison websites and felt pressured into investing.
Protection stepped up
The expression “if it seems too good to be true it probably is” holds a lot of merit when it comes to avoiding scams. But action is being taken to stop scammers before they contact investors.
In mid-July, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) introduced rules that require telcos to identify, trace and block SMS scams.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin says the action to target scam SMS will build on the success of the 2020 industry code that tackled phone calls.
“In the first 16 months after the Reducing Scam Calls code was put in place, telcos reported blocking over 549 million scam calls to Australian phone numbers, and we have seen a dramatic drop in scam call complaints. We expect to see SMS scams reduce as industry steps up to do more to protect their customers.”
The new SMS blocking rules have plenty of bite. Telcos can be fined up to $250,000 if they fail to comply.
But there is still a lot that consumers can do, and the Australian Banking Association (ABA) is encouraging customers to use PayID to combat scams.
PayID is a piece of information, such as your mobile number, that is linked to your bank account to receive payments. It means you just hand over PayID to receive payments instead of handing out your BSB and account number.
ABA CEO Anna Bligh says PayID helps to stop scams because, unlike a traditional payment, the payer can see a confirmation screen, which includes the intended PayID name, before they confirm the payment. “The more payments we see using PayID, the more protected customers will be.”