{"id":917,"date":"2024-07-16T11:51:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T01:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.fundo.com.au\/?p=917"},"modified":"2024-08-26T11:10:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T01:10:32","slug":"loan-scams-and-how-to-avoid-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fundo.com.au\/blog\/loan-scams-and-how-to-avoid-in-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Scams In Australia: What they are and how to avoid them"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first half of 2024, 143,106 Australians reported over $137.12 billion in losses to scams according to the National Anti-Scam Centre<\/a>. As times are tough at the moment with the cost of living, scammers prey upon the vulnerable with loan scams, investments scams, \u201ctoo good to be true\u201d buying or selling scams, and other financial fraud designed to give criminals money they absolutely don\u2019t deserve. If you\u2019re looking for a loan and want to be wary of scams and being ripped off, read this post about all the latest scams, how to avoid them, and how to keep yourself and your family safe from scams!<\/h4>\n

Identifying a scam and scammers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, every one of us with an email address or a phone number has likely had their brush with a scam. You may have seen a dodgy \u201cbank\u201d email riddled with misspellings (and probably not from an institution you have an account with) or received a phone call from someone insisting that you owe money to the Australian Taxation Office (although when pressed, they can\u2019t even name the current Federal Treasurer.) Some of these scams are obvious to detect \u2013 or so it seems.<\/p>\n

In the age of Generative AI (ChatGPT and the like) scams and scammers are becoming more and more sophisticated. According to the Australian Banking Association<\/a>, in 2023, Australians fell prey to an average of 25,148 scams a month, worth $39.7 million every month.<\/p>\n

So how can you identify scams and scammers in this day and age? Fortunately, the nature of scams doesn\u2019t change: the aim of the scammer is to trick you into giving them your personal information (phishing), money, or both.<\/p>\n

Monthly searches for scam types in Australia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Monthly<\/p>\n

Phishing scams<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These scams are usually \u201cphishing\u201d scams – trying to get your personal information first to impersonate you somewhere else. Phishing usually leads to identity theft – once they have your name, address, licence\/passport number, etc., scammers can use your information to open up bank accounts, take out loans, apply for credit cards, etc, all in your name. An email or text message pretending to be your bank or other institution such as PayPal will ask you to \u201cverify your account\u201d or \u201cverify a transaction\u201d by clicking a button or link. Don\u2019t be fooled – financial institutions in Australia do verify accounts this way. Here is how you can check if an email may be a scam:<\/p>\n