Scams, and the con artists behind them, are forever evolving and becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot.
Australian Community Media has compiled a list of current scams identified by sites such as scamwatch.gov.au, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which are dedicated to informing people about fraudulent and dishonest activities.
The latest text message scams
If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately. File picture
- Scamwatch.gov.au is reminding people to be vigilant when it comes to phishing scams that use text messages to attempt to gain personal and financial information.
- Such scams are ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated in presentation.
- The latest scams to do the rounds are:
- Texts claiming a loan has been pre-approved in your name and prompting you to call a number immediately. Never call a number sent to you in text or email, always search an organisation’s real number yourself via a search engine.
- Texts claiming that a road toll payment is overdue. These SMS messages direct users to click a short url which is then used for gaining information.
- Messages from Medicare or MyGov stating that you a due a refund, offering a free COVID-19 test kit or have a payment that is overdue. Always independently verify any claims and never click on urls provided in the text.
- Texts that claim you have won money, a…
