As part of National Consumer Fraud Awareness Week 2012, Telstra is urging consumers to be aware of the increasing number of telephone scams that are being reported.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released new figures that have shown that there are 52 per cent of people who have reported scams in 2011 were in fact contacted by telephone.
Darren Kane, Telstra’s Officer of Internet Trust and Safety has identified that the trend in the scam method has changed from being online in 2010 to the telephone in 2011. The types of scams can vary including. “Scammers are using phones for ‘high volume scams’ that are delivered to a large group of people with the aim of causing a small loss to each person.”
Some of the common phone scams can come in many forms. Some of these include: impersonating representatives of government departments and private companies, calling to say that someone’s computer is affected with a virus and calls that are aimed at conducting fake surveys or scam surveys.
Telstra's new multi-coloured logos (Credit: Telstra)
Even though the prevalence of phone scams have increased, there are methods that can be undertaken in order to avoid these scams. These ideas include: writing down the name of the person and who they represent, do not share personal details, do not respond to text messages from number that you do not recognise and be careful and wary of numbers that begin with 190 as they charge a premium rate and can cost you a fortune.
For more information about Telstra’s Internet and Cyber-Safety Site click here.
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