The Office of Fair Trading is sharing advice on scams for older Queenslanders during the State’s Seniors Month.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Shannon Fentiman said so far this year, people over the age of 65 were recording the most amount of losses to scammers.
“Australians over the age of 65 have reported almost four times the amount of losses to scammers in August this year compared to August 2019, before the pandemic,” Ms Fentiman said.
The top three scams are investment scams, dating and romance scams, and remote access scams where the victim is tricked into giving remote access to their computer, phone or tablet only to have their private information stolen.
“Investment scams promising big payouts or quick money are overwhelmingly the biggest scams people lose money to. My advice is, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Ms Fentiman said.
She said scammers can respond and adapt quickly when their scam is exposed by rolling out a new scam.
“My advice to Queenslanders is to check the Scam Watch website regularly to stay updated on the latest scams and how you can avoid them,” the Minister said.
“Also, if you have been impacted by the recent Optus data breach, you can visit IDCARE online for what you can do to protect yourself.”
She said it was also important that people talk about scams “because by reducing the stigma around scams, we can help more people learn to identify and avoid them”.
