News

The National Anti-Scam Centre is urging online shoppers to remain vigilant as it ramps up its efforts to disrupt scammers targeting Australians ahead of this weekend’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.

The Centre, which is run by the ACCC and coordinates government, law enforcement and the private sector to combat scams, has already removed or limited access to thousands of investment, phishing, and online shopping scam websites this year.

Online shopping scams account for 50 per cent of the fraudulent or malicious websites taken down in the past three months.

ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe has urged Australian consumers to be savvy when shopping online.

“This is a particularly busy shopping period with the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales this weekend – and Christmas and the annual Boxing Day sales just around the corner – and everyone loves a bargain,” Ms Lowe said.

“I would remind everyone to be extra wary of online shopping scams and if you are offered a product or service at a price that seems too good to be true, then it probably is.”

Ms Lowe said anyone who comes across a suspicious website should report it immediately.

“The longer a scam website is active, the more legitimate it may seem and the greater the risk there is for people to lose money,” Ms Lowe said.

“If you come across a suspicious website, please report it immediately via the updated short-form reporting tool on the Scamwatch website (www.scamwatch.gov.au) so we can quickly remove or limit access to the fraudulent site and protect other consumers against financial harm.”

Every website reported to Scamwatch is assessed for takedown. If it’s an investment scam, the website is automatically referred to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Scam website takedowns are part of a whole-of-government approach to tackling scams, led by ASIC, the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the National Anti-Scam Centre. The National Anti-Scam Centre has improved its disruption capability so that successful takedowns occur within an average of 10 hours from the time of reporting.

With the National Anti-Scam Centre now in its second year of operations, it continues to invest in technological capabilities, including by using machine learning to search social media platforms to find scams. Capability improvements mean the National Anti-Scam Centre can spot scams faster, take down scam ads and websites, and alert people when new types of scams are detected.

The National Anti-Scam Centre also works in partnership with law enforcement agencies here and overseas, including the Australian Federal Police and Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States.

“These achievements and future initiatives ensure the National Anti-Scam Centre is a key force in the government’s fight to reduce the number of Australians harmed by scams,” Ms Lowe said.

Further information is available in the fourth quarterly update of the National Anti-Scam Centre which marks the foundation year for coordination of anti-scam activity across government, industry, law enforcement and consumer organisations in Australia. The report details key programs and achievements of the National Anti-Scam Centre and provides data on scam reports and losses.

Consumers report scams in various ways, such as to their bank, law enforcement agencies (including Report Cyber), government departments and via Scamwatch. While these data sources are helpful in informing anti-scam efforts and providing insight on scam activity, there is value in continued improvements in data sourcing and analysis.

That’s why the National Anti-Scam Centre will continue to work over the next year to align data sources, identify duplication, bring in more data across the ecosystem and prepare to support the implementation of the Scams Prevention Framework and future reporting.

Statistics on reported scams, including types of scams, the amount of money lost to scams and demographic data, are also available via the interactive dashboard on the Scamwatch website.

Scams Prevention Framework

On 13 September 2024, the Australian Government released legislation to establish a new Scams Prevention Framework. The Framework establishes scam prevention principles in legislation that will guide industry-specific, mandatory obligations on designated sectors. The principles create obligations to Prevent; Detect; Report; Disrupt; and Respond to scams, and to establish effective governance systems.

The ACCC welcomes the progress of the Scams Prevention Framework Bill. We recognise the contributions across government and industry to reach this important milestone. We strongly support the Government’s work to introduce mandatory industry codes to protect Australians against scams. The ACCC considers mandatory and enforceable codes are an essential component of success in making Australia a harder target for scammers. We will continue to work closely with the Government and other key stakeholders throughout the consultation period.

The Government’s introduction of mandatory codes will ensure the private sector has clear and enforceable obligations to share intelligence about scam activity and take action to prevent and disrupt scams that target their customers and users.

Warning signs it might be a scam

• A seller offers products at an unbelievably low price. They claim they have amazing benefits or features that sound too good to be true.
• An online seller doesn’t have any terms and conditions, ABN or privacy policy on their website.
• Getting an invoice for a product or service you haven’t bought.
• You are told that you must pay by money order, pre-loaded card or pay to several different PayIds or accounts.
• The payment to the person or business you think you are paying, doesn’t match the identity of the account holder.

What consumers should do to avoid scams

Consumers are urged to ‘Stop, Check, Protect’ to avoid falling victim to online shopping scams.

• Stop - Scammers often pose as businesses that you know and trust. Stop and confirm you are buying from a real online store and not a fake website. Be wary of social media stores that are new and selling products at very low prices. Scammers also post fake ads and fake reviews.
• Check – Search for the official website of the company. Don’t assume the first search result that comes up in an internet search is the real website. Check the website you want to buy from has information about privacy, terms and conditions of use, dispute resolution and contact details, plus a secure payment service like PayPal or credit card.
• Protect - Act quickly if something feels wrong. Reporting suspicious websites to Scamwatch quickly will allow us to take swift action to takedown fake websites and protect other shoppers against financial harm.

Go to Scamwatch for scam alerts and information to help you spot and avoid scams.