Consumer Protection has declared the swelling demand for shipping containers as becoming another opportunity for scammers to part Western Australians from their money.
Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Trish Blake said that when items were in high demand yet short in supply, they became easy targets for scammers who knew when people were desperate to buy they often forgot to “practice the pause” to consider whether they were being swindled.
“According to figures from our WA ScamNet team, 11 victims have been duped out of a whopping $80,707 already this year —easily eclipsing the $54,500 recorded in the first five months of 2022, and far exceeding the $49,000 in total losses for the whole of 2021,” Ms Blake said.
“It starts when consumers respond to adverts on social media or elsewhere online for discounted shipping containers, before sending money to websites that turn out to be fakes.”
She said often the scammers steal the business name and ABN information from legitimate companies to appear more convincing.
“This is exactly what happened recently to GG Plant and Machinery Pty Ltd, an authentic business without an online presence,” Ms Blake said.
“As fast as our WA ScamNet team was able to shut down the impersonator sites, ‘ggplantandequipment.com’ and ‘ggplantandequipment.com.au’, another one popped up in its place (‘ggplantequipment.com.au’).
“This highlights why consumers need to remain vigilant when looking for goods online.”
She said scammers waived a big red flag when they advertised goods well below market prices and only allowed consumers to pay via bank transfer “so we always advise against paying for goods this way”.
“Instead, only shop on websites that offer secure payment methods such as credit card or PayPal, which allow you to dispute the transaction if the goods aren’t delivered or something else goes wrong,” Ms Blake said.
“If you are looking to buy a shipping container, proceed with caution and remember it’s always best if you can inspect the goods in person.”
She said consumers should take the time to find the website or contact details of the legitimate business, then make contact using details they had independently sourced to ascertain whether the offer was genuine.
