The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is urging people to be wary of fake charity scams, following the release of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) latest Scamwatch data.
The call for caution comes from ACNC Commissioner, Gary Johns, who said the new ACCC data found that between 1 January and 17 October there were 698 reports of fake charity scams.
Dr Johns said, however, the actual number was likely to be much higher, as many people did not realise that they had been scammed and others may feel too embarrassed to officially report it.
“We know it is all too common for scammers to pose as a charity, or to claim to be collecting donations for a charity,” he said.
“It is best the check our Charity Register before donating.
“The most commonly reported forms of contact for fake charity scams were phone (323 reports), followed by email (112 reports) and social networking/online forums (99 reports).
“Most losses came from fake charity scams conducted in person ($46,495), social networking/online forums ($41,776) and internet ($22,703).”
Dr Johns said the Scamwatch data showed that the number of charity scam reports so far this year appeared to be trending downwards compared with 2020, when 1,425 reports were received for the whole year.
“However, losses of $133,770 to reported scams in 2021 have already surpassed those for the whole of 2020 ($133,214),” he said.
The ACNC Commissioner said most reports and losses to fake charity scams came from New South Wales with 199 reports, $39,058 in losses; Victoria with 160 reports, $33,048 in losses; and Queensland with 134 reports, $36,685 in losses.
Dr Johns said the highest number of reports and losses came from people in the 35-44 age group, followed by people aged 65 and over and then those aged 25-34.
