Consumers are being urged to be extra careful handing over Christmas shopping as cybercriminals get more sophisticated and their methods more sophisticated, with the money Australians losing to scams expected to more than double this year. personal data.
Communications Action Network Australia chief executive Andrew Williams said it was not a question of “if” people would be scammed but “when” as scammers used a variety of platforms and techniques to convince people to pass on their credit card details To dodgy businesses and charities.
ACCAN chief executive Andrew Williams said consumers were likely to see an increase in scams during the busy Christmas shopping season.Credit:ACCAN
“We see that they are [scams] It’s getting more sophisticated and unfortunately, they, the crooks, are always trying to stay one step ahead of the technology, one step ahead of the regulators,” Williams said.
“If you get a text, phone call, email, WhatsApp or something like that and it looks suspicious, it probably is.”
Australian Federal Police Cybercrime Operations Commander Chris Goldsmith also warned that the frequency, scale and impact of malicious online activity targeting Australians has increased and people should be cautious about distributing personal data.
“The reality is we’ve all been lied to. People will be lied to during this time, there’s no doubt about it. But don’t be ashamed of it because it happens to everyone.
Andrew Williams, Australian Communications Action Network
“In this digital age, we’ve seen personal data become extremely valuable to cybercriminals, who view it as information they can exploit for financial gain,” Goldsmith said.
“Stolen information can be used to gain unauthorized access to bank accounts or to apply for fraudulent identity documents such as driver’s licenses and health insurance cards. This can be used to open bank accounts, apply for ABNs and other services that provide legal cover for cybercrime.”
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) calculates how much money will be lost to scams in 2021 well over $2 billionthey predict that figure could jump to more than $4 billion by the end of 2022, while reported scams have already increased significantly.
