Scammers emerge from crisis
The global financial crisis has brought with it more than just plummeting investment returns – it has also given rise to a significant increase in scamming.
That is the assessment of the chairman of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce, Peter Kell, who believes the increasing number of scams has lifted the likelihood of Australians falling victim to fraud.
He said that one in 20 Australians would fall victim to a scam this year, costing the community a total of more than a billion dollars.
Kell said over the past 12 months the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had seen an alarming 60 per cent increase in the number of complaints and enquiries about scams, with a 67 per cent increase in people reporting lost money.
He said in the United Kingdom the level of fraud activity had reached a 13-year high, and he believes Australia will face a similar increase in consumer fraud this year as the world economy tightens further.
Kell said the upturn in the level of fraud allied to the global financial crisis would form the centrepiece of this week’s National Consumer Fraud Week.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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