Tasmanians have been left reeling after losing a staggering amount of money to scammers.
In the first five months of 2023 alone, scammers managed to swindle over $3.5 million from unsuspecting Tasmanians.
These alarming figures were reported by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch data.
Across Australia as a whole, scammers took a whopping $248 million between January and May, with 133,218 scam reports made to the service.
However, that number could be much higher as the figures only account for those who reported their experiences.
The devastating impact of scams has been felt by many Tasmanians, with some individuals losing substantial amounts of money.
Many people have shared stories about falling prey to Facebook scams, where fake profiles pretend to be popular pages and trick users into giving away personal information, including their credit card details, in exchange for a supposed prize.
If you suspect that you have fallen victim to a scam, it is crucial to report the incident at scamwatch.gov.au.
In cases involving cybercrime, the crime should be reported immediately to ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au.
