Warning over back-to-school stationery scam

Parents and caregivers are being warned to be vigilant as scammers claiming payments on bogus stationery target them as the school term begins.

The online safety organisation Netsafe said it was aware of a potential scam targeting parents and caregivers as thousands of children head back to the classroom for the first term.

‘‘If you receive a phone call or email about problems with online school stationery orders, please be wary,’’ Netsafe warned yesterday.

The scammers are calling to claim that an online order for school stationery has not gone through, and that the payment needs to be made again via credit card or online banking.

If you have not made an online stationery order recently and you receive a call asking for payments like these, just hang up the phone, Netsafe advised.

If you have made an online stationery order recently, but are unsure if the contact is legitimate, contact the organisation directly to confirm if there is a problem with your payment.

Be sure to contact the vendor through official channels – don’t use phone numbers or emails provided to you by potential scammers.

In 2017, more than $10 million in losses were reported to the organisation. This included $1.4m to romance scams.

The average loss was $10,771 with the biggest being $480,000 and the smallest loss only $1.