Remember those annoying scam texts that made your phone nigh-unusable last year? Well, we have good news and bad news.
The good news is that the FluBot network behind them has been shut down – and, what’s more, a new filter from Telstra has blocked an astonishing 185 million malicious texts (and counting) since it was switched on in April.
“Messages blocked have included lures to install malware on your device, invitations to hand over your personal details to scammers, and impersonation scams requesting financial data.
“185 million texts blocked means a reduced chance of everyday Aussies being infected or falling prey to an SMS scam,” said Narelle Devine, Chief Information Security Officer, Asia Pacific at Telstra.
The bad news? Aussies are still estimated to have lost more than a staggering $2 billion to scams in 2021, with text scams only making up around $10 million of that total. ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said a “record amount of Australians lost a record amount of money” last year.
“Scammers are the most opportunistic of all criminals: they pose as charities after a natural disaster, health departments during a pandemic, and love interests every day.
“The true cost of scams is more than a dollar figure as they also cause serious emotional harm to individuals, families, and businesses,” she said.
Seems too good to be true? It probably is
Vulnerable Australians such as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people, those aged 65 and over, and people with disabilities were particularly hard hit, and investment scams topped the list of most lucrative at $701 million.
“We have seen a marked decline in some of the older, low-end scams and an enormous increase in more sophisticated ‘white-collar’ fraud, such as cryptocurrency investment scams,” Ms Rickard said.
“There was a spike last year in scams relating to pyramid and Ponzi schemes, largely due to the emergence of some sophisticated Ponzi investment scam apps.
“If an investment opportunity seems too good to be true, we urge all Australians to not go anywhere near it.”
To find out about scams, how to protect yourself from them, and how to report them, visit the ScamWatch website.
