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Con-artists swindle $150K from Aussies: Don't fall for these fake celebrity scams

Scammers are using images of popular celebrities to swindle Aussies out of almost $150,000. From Cate Blanchett’s anti-ageing lotion to Eddie McGuire’s erectile dysfunction pills, unsuspecting people are being deceived by fake celebrity endorsements. Since the start of the year, fake celebrity endorsements have increased by a huge 400 per cent. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Scamwatch website received almost 200 reports this year alone with the losses of victims totalling $142,000. Those aged 45 years and older account for 63 per cent of victims of the celebrity scams, while women are also more likely than men to be deceived by the advertisements. The scams appear on social media platforms as online advertisements or promotional stories and use the image and often fake quotes from a celebrity to give credibility to the product being sold. Victims are then asked to hand over their credit card details to sign up for a “free trial” of the product, which either never turns up or has difficult contract terms to back out of. Celebrities who have been exploited by scammers include <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/technology/it-s-a-scam-carrie-bickmore-warns-of-face-cream-hoax-on-facebook">Carrie Bickmore</a>, Delta Goodrem, Kyle Sandilands, Lisa Wilkinson, Meghan Markle and Shark Tank’s Steve Baxter. ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said most people who have fallen for the scam this year lost between $100 and $500, but one victim was swindled of more than $50,000. Ms Rickard said tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, were responsible for not being diligent enough. “Most of the reports to Scamwatch involve these scam advertisements running on Google ad banners or as ads in Facebook news feeds,” Ms Rickard said. “These tech giants must do more to quickly suspend ads, as every time consumers click on a scam ad, they are at risk of losing money.” Recently, Channel 9’s Sonia Kruger's image was used in a number of ads selling a facial cream. “It’s a relief to see the ACCC step in with regards to this issue,” she told <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/">The Daily Telegraph.</a> “It’s very concerning that Australians are being duped into parting with their hard-earned money on the false belief that these products have been endorsed by Australian celebrities. Facebook and Google should block these ads.” A Google spokeswoman said advertisements that violated its polices would be removed, while Facebook Australia and New Zealand’s head of communications, Antonia Sanda, said false and misleading ads are also being disabled. “From January to March 2018 we took down 837 million pieces of spam, nearly 100 per cent of which we found and flagged before anyone reported it,” she said. “We also disabled about 583 million fake accounts — most of which were disabled within minutes of registration.” To avoid being caught up in a celebrity scam, the ACCC encourages all online shoppers to research a company before they hand over their details. “It is vital to research and read independent reviews of the company. Consumers should verify celebrity endorsement of products from the celebrity’s official website or social media account,” Ms Rickard said. The ACCC said if someone falls victim to a fake celebrity endorsement, they should contact their bank, arrange a chargeback and stop any further debits to their credit card. Have you spotted any of these celebrity scams while scrolling online? Let us know in the comments below.

Legal

New ATO phone scam swindling hundreds of thousands from Aussie taxpayers

It seems there’s new, more sophisticated phone scams cropping up all the time, and this latest one is scarily genuine-sounding. The Australian Taxation Office has issued a warning about a new scam whereby criminals impersonate the ATO. The hoax has raked in almost $190,000 from victims in just two months. The scam involves a three-way phone call where the fraudster rings a victim pretending to be from the tax office claiming that a large bill needs to be paid immediately. When the victim challenges the claim or is sceptical, the scammer calls an “associate” to prove authenticity. That person then pretends to be the victim's tax agent and confirms a bill needs to be paid. In some instances, the scammers will become aggressive and threaten legal or police action if the bill is not paid. ATO Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson said scammers are taking advantage of the time of year. "One recent example had a taxpayer unfortunately thinking the telephone conversation was legitimate, and ended up withdrawing thousands of dollars in cash and depositing it into a Bitcoin ATM, fearing the police had a warrant out for his arrest," said Anderson. "We are at the half-way point of tax time, and we’ve seen an increase in reports in recent months. "In September we typically see these high volumes continue, so we are warning the community to be on the lookout for things that don’t look or feel quite right." Anderson said scammers weren’t just looking to get money from people but also a taxpayer's personal data. “Scammers aren’t just looking at getting a quick fix through an upfront payment. They are increasingly looking to get your personal information, and once they gain this data they can sell it or use it to impersonate you for their own financial gain," warned Anderson. "One taxpayer received an email which appeared to be from the ATO. The email requested her to click a link to download her BAS for lodgement. “Clicking the link ran malicious software which gave the scammer access to all data on her computer. "She later found that her credit rating had been severely impacted as the scammers racked up large unpaid debts in her and her business’ name." Anderson reminds people that while the ATO does use emails, phone calls and SMS messages to contact taxpayers, it will never use aggressive or rude behaviour or threaten you with immediate arrest, jail or deportation. "Australians are generally pretty good at identifying scams but there has been a distinct increase in the level of scam sophistication," said Anderson. "The cloned web addresses linked to scam emails are sometimes difficult to distinguish from ato.gov.au and the compromise of your personal information via this method may remain undetected with impacts only realised many months later."

Legal

Travellers warned about currency conversion swindle

A travel trend has descended on Europe. It's worse than selfie sticks. It's worse than drone photography. Like a pickpocket at a train station it pretends to be your helpful travel guide before leaving you a few euros short. It's called Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), and despite its off-putting name it can butter up unsuspecting tourists when they come to pay their bills. You've probably been one of them. Picture this: you're finishing up dinner at a Parisian brasserie or pizza parlour in Naples, you hand over your debit or credit card and the friendly waiter asks if you'd like to pay in your home currency used on the card – dollars – or euros (or whatever the local currency is). So helpful, right? Travel budgets are hard enough to manage (especially after a few drinks at dinner) and then along comes this offer to convert your meal bill into simple New Zealand dollars at the point of sale to help you track you spending. Do not do it. This is Dynamic Currency Conversion. The exchange rate applied to convert your dinner bill (or new shoes, or souvenirs) is the worst currency conversion rate going and the merchant is offering you the "convenience" at the point of sale not from the good of their heart, but because they earn a small commission for on-selling this service. Offering a conversion rate of €0.58 to the dollar instead of your bank's €0.63 may not sound like much of a margin, but over a month-long jaunt to Europe that could see you losing out hundreds while the merchants cream it. You wouldn't be alone in opting for this cheeky convenience - one in five travellers fall victim to this pushy trick, according to currency company FairFX. Although now common throughout Europe and elsewhere, the mark-up charged varies a lot depending on the shop or restaurant, your credit card firm, the DCC operator and the payment gateway being used. Since the merchant is getting a slice of the action, suddenly it makes sense why they are suddenly worried about your convenience and ability to track your holiday spending. Yeah, right. Several shop assistants and restaurant staff have been rather too forward in offering this service, making the assumption that I, the customer, would much rather pay in my home currency and present the bill already converted when handing me the card payment terminal. Like an over-cooked steak, send it back. Do the same if asked when using a foreign ATM to withdraw cash, because to choose the convenience for knowing exactly how many dollars will come out of your home bank account will only mean that more will be deducted. And in case you're feeling smug because you think your pre-paid, pre-loaded travel debit card protects you – that's not always the case. You will still be offered the service and if you accept (or don't decline the converted rate that appears before you on the terminal) it will still deduct the agreed dollar equivalent from your pre-paid account, even if you have pre-loaded local currencies. Sound complex? It's meant to. To win the war on confusing currencies: just say no. Written by Josh Martin. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz</a>.

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Con-artists swindle $150K from Aussies: Don't fall for these fake celebrity scams

New ATO phone scam swindling hundreds of thousands from Aussie taxpayers

Travellers warned about currency conversion swindle

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