The staggering rate at which phone scams targeting Australians are growing

Australians are losing twice as much money today to phone scammers as they did a year ago.

Chief executive of cyber charity ID Care, Professor David Lacey, says the prevalence of phone scams is growing at a staggering rate.

“We thought last year was bad because of COVID, but this year it has gone to another level,” he told Ross and Russel.

“So far in the first four months of it’s year there’s been about a 30 per cent increase in reports to ID Care. That equates to around 35,000 reports.”

Professor Lacey says most calls originate from overseas, but scammers ensure the number that appears on your phone looks like it’s from Australia.

He says many scammers are currently pretending to be from Amazon, Netflix or another streaming service, to trick Australians into handing over their bank details.

His advice to anyone who thinks they may be being scammed is to hang up and call the company involved yourself to see if the call was genuine.

“As Australians we’re a community that’s trusting and the crooks know it. We’re the fourth most targeted country in the world at the moment,” Professor Lacey said.

Press PLAY below to hear more about common phone scams and how to avoid being ripped off