Internet fraudsters widen their net
Almost $1 billion worth a year about nine in 10 millions of Australian have been exposed to fraudster, scams. As Australians grow wary of established cons, new ”work from home”, ”inheritance” or ”dating” offers are the most successful types of consumer fraud.
They include invitations to work from home for businesses that are money laundering operations for criminal networks; fake profiles on dating websites for women who later ask for money to visit Australia; and bogus psychics and clairvoyants.
Meanwhile, police experts say social networking websites and unsecured wireless internet networks are giving identity thieves a new mine of information.
The Australian Institute of Criminology has warned of a string of new scams in its report Consumer fraud in Australia: costs, rates and awareness of the risks in 2008.
Based on an online survey of 919 people published yesterday, it found about 5 per cent of people replied to more conventional lottery or money transfer scams in the previous 12 months, but 10 per cent had been tricked by newer scams.
In one elaborate inheritance scam, a survey respondent paid tens of thousands of dollars for legal fees or stamp duties in anticipation of a promised $2.5 million estate that never existed.
The co-author Russell Smith said that although there were fewer of them, the newer ruses may be more successful in luring victims because they are not as notorious as established cons, the report said. But most originate in Nigeria or West Africa and some are highly sophisticated.
Detective Sergeant Steve Bignell from National Identity Crime Symposium of the Queensland police computer crime investigation unit said 50 per cent of Australia’s wireless internet networks are not safe from hackers.
The Consumer Affairs Minister, Craig Emerson, said the Government is working with other countries to crack down on scammers and introduce new penalties, including fines of up to $1.1 million.
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