AUSTRALIANS lost a record $340 million to scammers last year.
Not only is it more money than any other year since the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission began recording scam activity data, but it's the first time reported losses have been more than $300 million.
"It's very worrying that Australians are losing such extraordinary amounts to scammers. Based on just the reports provided to the ACCC, victims are losing an average of $6500. In some cases people have lost more than $1 million," said the commission's deputy chair Delia Rickard.
"Some scams are becoming very sophisticated and hard to spot. Scammers use modern technology like social media to contact and deceive their victims. In the past few years, reports indicate scammers are using aggressive techniques both over the phone and online."
Stop and check: is this for real?
The staggering figure was released by the commission as part of this week's Scams Awareness Week. This year, ACCC's Scamwatch is asking people to stop and check if it's real if contacted by scammers pretending to be from government organisations or businesses.
The organisation received almost 33,000 reports of these threat-based impersonation scams in 2017, with more than $4.7 million reported lost and more than 2800 people giving away their personal information.
Ms Rickard said these scams can be very frightening.
"Scammers will impersonate the Australian Taxation Office and threaten people with immediate arrest unless they pay an outstanding tax bill. They may pretend to be from Telstra to try to hack into your computer or from Centrelink promising extra payments in return for a 'fee'," she said.
"Scammers scare us or butter us up with promises of cash because they know it clouds our judgement. People get so worried about being arrested they don't question if the person threatening them is genuine.
"If you're being threatened, take a deep breath, and ask yourself if the call makes sense. The ATO will never threaten you with immediate arrest; Telstra will never need to access your computer to 'fix' a problem; and Centrelink will never require a fee to pay money it owes you. Finally, none of these organisations will ask you to pay using iTunes gift cards," Ms Rickard said.
"If something doesn't feel right, hang up the phone or hit delete. If the person said they were, for example, from Telstra or the ATO, find the phone number for that organisation online or in the phone book, call them and let them know about the call you received. They'll let you know if it's genuine or a scam."
During Scam Awareness Week from May 21-25, visit www.scamwatch.gov.au/scamsweek2018 for more information on scams and tips on how to avoid them.
You can visit the Scamwatch website - www.scamwatch.gov.au - at any time to get details on the latest scams and to report a scam.
Scams Awareness Week is an initiative of the Scams Awareness Network, a group of Australian and New Zealand government agencies with responsibility for consumer protection and policing in scams, cyber safety and fraud.
