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A first-ever Australian survey of personal fraud has shown Victorians lost more than a quarter of a billion dollars to scams and fraud.
Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson said the survey, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2007, found more than 222,000 Victorians had responded to scams.
The survey found:
1. Victoria has one of the highest response rates for scams with almost 7% of Victorians responding to scams they receive. This is higher than the Australian average;
2. The four main scams Victorians lost money to were lotteries, chain letters and pyramid schemes, and phishing scams; and
3. Statistics from the survey showed anyone could be deceived by scams. Victims were equally male and female, young and old, both high and low-income earners, both educated people and those with less education, Australian-born and overseas-born, and employed and unemployed.
Mr Robinson said it was disturbing so many people had been taken in by scammers and frauds and that the ABS survey indicated anyone can be a victim of a scam.
'The reality is frauds and scammers are notoriously hard to track down, operating through a complex global network, masked by advances in technology,' he said.
'I strongly advise consumers who suspect something might be a scam, not to respond and not to send any money or personal details. If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is.'
Mr Robinson said CAV would use the survey results to better inform consumers about how they can prevent themselves from falling victim to scams.
The survey was an initiative of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce. The taskforce works with consumer regulatory agencies around the world and participates in campaigns to warn consumers against global scams and fraud.
The taskforce was established in 2005 and comprises 18 government regulatory agencies and departments including CAV.
For the survey, the ABS considered personal fraud to include identity and credit card fraud, lottery scams, phishing scams, pyramid schemes, financial scams, advance fee fraud and other scams.
To look up or report a scam, visit www.consumer.vic.gov.au or call 1300 55 81 81.