ScamBusters also has a similar top ten list:
Currently in Australia a phishing email is doing the rounds which falsely alerts the recipient to an Australian Tax Office refund.10. Travel and vacation scams. Travel scams have always been around. But this year we expect to see more Internet-based ruses like bogus offers of cheap airfare and event tickets. The huge Olympic Games Internet tickets scam of 2008 was just the start.
9. Phony auction and classified sales. Yes, eBay, Craigslist, etc. scammers continue to reel in the victims. Despite attempts by the sites themselves to clamp down on the con artists, we expect the tricksters to re-double their deception efforts.
8. Investment and pump and dump scams. We've broadened this category after reporting on a number of failed or phony investment schemes that have cost victims tens of millions of dollars.
7. Work at home and job scams. With unemployment on the rise and the growing popularity of working from home, we think this scam will become more prevalent in 2009.
6. Grandparent, family tragedy and death threat scams. These are extremely common scams where people ask for money by claiming a relative is in trouble or that a murder contract has been taken out. Mostly, they come by phone but increasingly are seen in emails.
5. Viruses and spyware.
4. Nigerian scams, again with lots more new twists.
3. Lottery scams. You've won! New ones are appearing from Canada, the Caribbean, inside the US and from the Far East.
2. Economy related scams. We predict huge growth in loan- and credit-related scams, but foreclosure scams may ease slightly as pressure eases on banks. We'll see.
1. Identity theft and phishing. Despite tougher counter-measures, this scam is still way too easy for the criminals.
Surprisingly, by last Wednesday morning this scam was not yet posted on the ACCC-managed Scam Watch .
Australians reportedly lost up to a billion dollars in these scams in 2006-07, but what is more worrying is that identity theft is often being used for purely malicious ends in email attacks mounted as 'payback' for some form of personal disagreement.
There is some evidence that emails of this sort may have be sent from the NSW North Coast over the last 6-12 months.
So, if you receive an email with content or language that appears out of character for the named sender:
- First, contact the sender directly (not via email reply link) and attempt to verify the suspect email;
- Secondly, contact the local police if the email is fraudulent as identity theft can be an offence under Australian law if it involves stealing, fraud, forgery, uttering, computer hacking and misuse, or personation.
