2017 has been a successful year for online scammers and digital con artists in Australia with them netting over $55,000,000 in illegally gained revenue.
Contrary to popular belief it is not only the elderly that are getting caught out by these types of online scams. There is quite an even cross-section of society that are getting caught out by online scams and cyber crime.
Although the result may be a monetary value, online scams are not always targeting this directly. In many instances, the scammers are looking to gain personal information and/or login details or are attempting to have you download malware onto your work network or personal computers to gain entry without your knowledge.
A few of the most used online scams identified in 2017 include:
- Australian Tax Office (phone and email) – attempting to gain money or gift cards for unpaid taxes
- Debt Collection (email) – similar to the ATO scam wanting money or gift cards to cease action that could result in court summons and jail time
- Lottery and Gift (email and SMS) – stating that you have won something and you need to provide your details to collect the prizes
Below are some recent examples of social engineering scams to provide an overview of what to look out for in an online scam:
If you would like more information on social engineering or further information on current digital scams and what to look out for please do not hesitate to contact Agilient.