If you’ve never received a scam phone call, you’re in the minority, with more and more Hawkesbury residents reporting they’ve received one or more calls from scammers, often several in one day.

My office hears from people almost on a daily basis, who’ve either had a near miss with, or have sadly fallen prey to one of the hundreds of different scams targeting Australians at the moment.

And while most of us may think we are immune to being scammed, the figures tell a frighteningly different story.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Australians are set to lose more than half a billion dollars to scams this year - a record amount.

And it’s not because people are becoming more gullible – it’s quite the opposite – scammers are becoming far more sophisticated and are even able to mimic legitimate phone numbers so people think they’re receiving a call from a trusted source.

It really is an unacceptable situation when criminals based overseas, can effortlessly use Australian telephone numbers they don’t own to generate calls and rip people off.

The ACCC National Scams Awareness Week theme this year was ‘too smart to be scammed?’ which urged people to test their knowledge of scams and how to detect them and protect themselves.

But it’s not enough to simply try and boost awareness about the issue; we need to look at measures to protect people. Labor is calling for solutions to what is a rapidly growing problem and encouragingly, experiences overseas including in the USA, UK and New Zealand show that progress is possible.

It’s a growing problem and I know people are fed up. Even with the latest technical solutions it won’t be possible to stop every scam call, but the Government has a responsibility to provide some meaning action on this issue.
But, until then, people are being encouraged to report scams to https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam . I also encourage you to contact my office at [email protected] or 4573 8222.