The majority of Australians are becoming more aware of scams than before, according to the latest research published by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Commonwealth Bank based the research on YouGov’s survey on a nationally representative sample of 2,047 people aged over 18, conducted online on Aug. 14-21, 2023.
The research showed that about 73 percent of Australians said that they have become more concerned about scams in the past 12 months, up 16 percent from the previous year.
The study revealed that more Australians now are cautious about answering calls from numbers they do not recognise and clicking links they receive from messages unless from friends.
More Australians now are also checking grammatical errors in written communication they receive, which could indicate a scam.
About 76 percent of the respondents said they are becoming more cautious about interacting with anyone as it could be artificial intelligence (AI), while 74 percent agreed that AI is making it more difficult to recognise scams and avoid them.
In addition, 9 in every 10 respondents agree that banks, telcos, social media platforms, governments, and police need to work together to fight scams.
“It’s positive news that Aussies are growing more aware of scams and what they can do to stay safe,” James Roberts, Commonwealth’s General Manager of Group Fraud Management Services, said.
“The increased awareness and decrease in the overall dollars lost by CommBank customers over the period is encouraging. However, we all have more to do, including continuing to strengthen our defences across all financial institutions, telcos, government, social media and digital platforms to protect Australians from the terrible impact the scammers have.”
Earlier this year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published its Targeting Scams report, which emphasised that Australians lost $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, an 80 percent increase from losses in the previous year.
Scammers Target Chinese International Students
Just last week, the ACCC warned Chinese students in Australia to beware of scams targeting them, with many scammers misrepresenting themselves as part of official Chinese institutions, phone companies, or financial institutions.Scammers will scare the victims by saying the latter’s phone or identity was used in a financial crime. For instance, a scammer told a victim that he was under investigation and needed to pay in order to remain in Australia; otherwise, he would be extradited or deported to China.
The scam even involves video calls with what appeared to be Chinese police with the scammers using fake documentation including arrest warrants.
In other cases, a person dressed as a police officer will visit the homes of students in Australia to deliver documentation.
“In one case, a young man paid over $400,000 to scammers after he was told he would be arrested. He was also told he was under surveillance and was instructed to have Facetime open 24 hours a day,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“This type of scam is highly sophisticated and convincing because it involves multiple perpetrators who play on their victim’s fears by threatening them and their family with years of jail time.”
