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As most Australian citizens, especially business owners, dream of having a multimillion business, scammers are also going in the same direction.
Experts say that scams are starting to get more sophisticated robbing Australians each year. From fake cryptocurrency to spoofed messages, the scamming business is becoming a billion-dollar industry.
In 2022, an accumulated amount of $570m was recorded from 239,000 reported scams. However, Scamwatch said the actual amount is way higher, as only 13% of the whole iceberg was reported.
Most Aussies fall for investment scams. Text messages also act like quicksands luring their victims, such as the “Hi mum” scheme where attackers pretend to be the victim’s child. Moreover, as it gets sophisticated, a spoofing strategy is also utilised.
On Saturday, the alleged mastermind of the “Hi mum” scams, a 21-year-old Melbourne man, is scheduled to appear in court in July. Because of his scheme, he is charged with five counts of obtaining property by deception.
When spoofing, the perpetrators can camouflage using big institutions, usually banks or well-known companies. Their text messages would barge into a pre-existing thread with a legit company, so you won’t have to second-guess the texts.
“We have noticed an obvious change in the level of sophistication and victim manipulation over the past two years,” Chief executive of Cybertrace, Dan Halpin, said. “As with any crime method, the longer it is used, the more refined it becomes.”
Halpin saw the trend in fake cryptocurrency and forex broker websites, yet the fraudulent transactions happening in online jobs and hotel booking assistant scams are also noticeable.
“Like the ‘hi mum’ scams, the online job/hotel booking assistant scams are often conducted via WhatsApp and other similar messaging platforms,” he said.
“We foresee that this scam type will affect many more Australians in the coming months, and it is definitely one to be aware of.”
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