Australia’s National Scams Awareness Week runs from 21 – 25 May 2018. The Australian government is urging Australians to be on the lookout for threat-based impersonation scams by taking a moment to ask ‘is this for real?’
Sometimes scams are obvious, sometimes they’re harder to spot.
If you received a call out of the blue from someone saying you had a tax debt that you had to pay immediately or you’d be arrested – what would you think? If Telstra called you and said there were internet problems in your area and they needed remote access to your computer to help you, otherwise they would disconnect your service -what would you do?
These are good examples of threat-based impersonation scams. In 2017 the ACCC’s Scamwatch received almost 33,000 reports of scams like these.
Typically scammers pretend to be from a government agency or a wellknown, trusted business. They often use threats to pressure or scare you into giving them your personal information and your money. They also may threaten you with fines, disconnecting your internet, arrest, court action or even deportation.
The scammers work hard to make sure their threats seem genuine and frightening! They make you feel as
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