{"id":173,"date":"2016-05-18T01:09:29","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T01:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcpt.com.au\/members\/?p=173"},"modified":"2018-01-23T12:01:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T04:01:33","slug":"scammers-more-sophisticated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/2016\/05\/18\/scammers-more-sophisticated\/","title":{"rendered":"Scammers More Sophisticated"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\ndiv.floater {\n    float: right;\n    margin: 0 0 15px 20px;\n    padding: 15px;\n    border: 0px solid black;\n    text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p>Scammers are acting more professionally and fooling us more  often, according to a report released by the Australian Competition and  Consumer Commission (ACCC) this week. <\/p>\n<div class=\"floater\"><img src=\"https:\/\/s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/wcpt\/Features+Icons\/scammers2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"410\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The report reveals that scammers cost Australia a total of  $229 million in 2015. While the report continues to highlight the danger of  romance and dating scams, a disturbing trend is the significant increase in  investment fraud. Investment scams come in many forms including business  ventures, superannuation schemes, managed funds and the sale or purchase of  shares or property. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is not hard to see why many Australians are losing large  sums of money in these scams given how difficult they are to identify,&rdquo; said  ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These more sophisticated scams often involve scammers who  use accurate technical jargon in carefully crafted cold calling scripts and  accompany this with glossy brochures backed up by professional-looking  websites. Even astute investors have been known to fall victim to these more  calculated scams&rdquo; Ms Rickard said. <\/p>\n<h2>Wise up to Scams<\/h2>\n<p>This week is National Consumer Fraud Week and the Federal  Government is encouraging us all to &lsquo;wise up to scams&rsquo;, maintaining that  education is a primary tool to combat scam activity. <\/p>\n<p>To assist real estate teams in their scam-hunting  activities, WCPT has prepared a quick &lsquo;Scammer Be Gone&rsquo; checklist. Use this  checklist at your next office meeting to make sure staff are aware of where  scams come from and how they can be prevented. <\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Scammer Be Gone&rsquo; Checklist<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Scam Activity is on the Rise<\/strong>: There was a  15% increase in scams in 2015. That means that your chance of being personally  or professionally impacted by scam activity increases every day. Do not wear  the &ldquo;it won&rsquo;t happen to me&rdquo; shades and miss your chance to educate yourself and  your peers to the threat. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Know Where Scams Happen<\/strong>: Did you know  that the majority of scam activity starts with a phone call? That&rsquo;s 45% of scam  activity arriving via phone call or text message. 44% occurs via the web, email  and social media. Use questioning techniques to check the legitimacy of a  caller when you speak to them and delete any email that asks you to click a  link or open an attachment. If you are unsure whether an email is legit, call  the company or individual on their published contact number and check for  yourself.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Password Check<\/strong>: a significant number of  scams make use of stolen personal data. Once a scammer has one password, they  can use your personal data to access other systems and accounts, creating a  giant snowball of stolen data damage. To limit the loss, check your passwords \u2013  change them regularly, do not use the same passwords for work and personal  activity, do not share your passwords with others, and use different passwords  for different systems. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Small Business is a Target<\/strong>: In 2015,  Australian small business reported close to a $3 million loss to scammers.  Scams known to target small businesses include false billing scams, buying and  selling scams for office supplies, overpayment scams and computer hacking to  obtain personal information or install malware. Know that your business may be  a target and keep an eye and an ear on contact from third parties relating to  these popular scam avenues. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Don&rsquo;t Forget Your CPD<\/h2>\n<p>The Department of Commerce has identified fraud and scam activity  as a priority compliance area for 2016. Risk management relating to scam  activity and fraud is therefore a central feature of this year&rsquo;s mandatory CPD  program. If you have not had a chance to complete your mandatory 3 point  session yet, <a href=\"http:\/\/wcpt.com.au\/cpd\/agents-mandatory-3-point-cpd\/\" target=\"_blank\">check out the times and dates we have coming up!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scammers are acting more professionally and fooling us more often, according to a report released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) this week.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}