Easy Fraud Solutions

There are many legitimate lottery jackpots, competitions and sweepstakes throughout the festive season, however lottery scams also circulate at this time of year.

These scams will often use the names of legitimate overseas lotteries or carry the name of a well-known company, event or person.

You will usually be asked to pay various ongoing fees to release your winnings, but you will lose all the money you pay and won’t receive anything in return.

Ways to protect yourself include:
- If you receive a letter, email or SMS out of the blue claiming you have won a lottery which you never entered its most likely a scam – ignore it.
- Ask yourself why you are being asked to pay fees when these could come out of the winnings. Genuine lotteries don’t operate this way.

Source: https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/news-alerts/the-12-scams-of-christmas

Many of us make resolutions to loose weight over the Summer holidays, but watch out for scammers offering ‘miracle’ weight loss pills and potions.

These scams may promise weight loss for little or no effort or may involve unusual or restrictive diets, ‘revolutionary’ exercise or fat-busting devices, or products such as pills, patches, or creams. Also watch out for 'free trials' that may sign you up to unexpected payments.

Ways to protect yourself include:
- Remember, there are no magic pills for rapid weight loss, instead speak with your GP about healthy and safe weight loss options.
- Be very careful about offers for medicines, supplements or other treatments: always seek the advice of your health care professional.

Source: https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/news-alerts/the-12-scams-of-christmas

Gift vouchers make handy presents when someone is hard to buy for, but always buy them from an official source to avoid being scammed.

Recent scams have involved fake gift vouchers and “free products” being offered via social networking sites.

Scam offers will ask victims to give personal details via survey in return for vouchers and products which either never arrive or are not honored.

Ways to protect yourself include:
- Never click on suspicious links on social networking sites – even if they are from your friends. Remember if an offer seems too good to be true it probably is!
- Be very wary when filling in surveys linked to via social networking posts and pages. Scammers commonly use these surveys to steal your valuable personal information.
- If in doubt about the authenticity of a free offer always contact the company on their official customer service number to verify that it is genuine.
- If you think you have provided your banking or credit card details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

Source: https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/news-alerts/the-12-scams-of-christmas