The IPC acknowledges Scams Awareness Week 2024
Scams Awareness Week is on 26 – 30 August and reminds us that anyone can be scammed. Sharing your story helps others to spot, avoid and report scams, and to recover from them.
If you have identified or encountered a scam, it is important that you share your story with someone – it could be your friends, family, colleagues, social networks, or community. When you share a scam story, you can prevent someone else from having their money or personal information stolen. By talking to each other, we can make sure no one is alone in the fight against scams.
There are a few important things you should do straight away to limit the damage and protect yourself from further loss:
1. Act fast to prevent further losses
Contact your bank or card provider immediately to report the scam. Ask them to stop any transactions.
2. Get help to recover
IDCARE is Australia and New Zealand’s national identity and cyber support service. They can help you make a plan (for free) to limit the damage.
Call them on 1800 595 160 or visit their website to find out more.
3. Warn others and report the scam
Once you have secured your details, you can help Scamwatch try to stop the scam or to warn others by reporting the scam. You can also warn people around you.
You can also make an official report to the police online.
4. Watch out for follow up scams
If scammers have stolen money from you, they often come back for more. Unfortunately, 1 in 3 victims of a scam have been scammed more than once.
5. Get Support
If a scam is causing you problems with debt, talk to a financial counsellor. This is a free and confidential service to help you get your finances back on track.
If you need someone to talk to, reach out to family and friends or contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue to speak to someone online or over the phone.
If you have identified or encountered a scam, it is important that you share your story with someone – it could be your mates, family, colleagues, social networks, or community.
By sharing your scam story, you can prevent someone else from having their money or personal information taken by a scammer. The more stories we hear, the better equipped we are to protect ourselves.
For more information on Scams Awareness Week and events near you, visit the ScamWatch webpage.
