AS A keen participant in online surveys and competitions, Mia Tang was not that surprised to receive a call telling her she had won a Coles Myer survey competition.
It was only when the caller started asking, "if [she>[/embedp>
After she entered all her personal details, Melanie went back to check the URL in the original email, only to find it was registered to a server in southern Italy.
"It was pretty frightening because myGov has so much personal information about me," she said.
Ms Rickard said phishing scammers sought a range of personal details in order to put together "as complete a picture of you as possible".
"Scammers can find different parcels of information of the same person, put it all together and sell it ... they are developing personality profiles," she said.
"Delete any email or hang up on a phone call that you receive out of the blue that is asking for your personal information, even if it purports to be from a well-known business or government organisation that you trust."
IDCARE is Australia's only national identity and cyber support service, launched in 2014 to assist victims of identity theft in reclaiming their personal details.
The not-for-profit organisation offers a free community service to anyone who believes their personal information is at risk.
"Often the biggest harm a person confronts is the bureaucratic melee they will have to confront across industry and government, after the fact ... so we develop a tailored response plan," said spokesman Dave Lacey.
IDCARE estimates it will have assisted 35,000 Australians by the end of this year.
"On average, financial exposure for a client would be just shy of $10,000. But the most [harmful>[/embedp>