Chifley Police District is warning community members to be wary of scammers.
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Before Christmas last year Sergeant Mick Fleming of Cowra Police said up to three Cowra residents per week were being victimised upwards of $6000.
Chilfey Police District on Monday said two types of scams were “making the rounds” at the moment.
“It’s happening,” Sergeant Mick Fleming said before describing a common scam.
“What they’ll do is contact you by email and ask you to click on a link to give them access to a phone or computer.
“Once they have that they have access to your bank account. A couple of weeks later they’ll contact you pretending to be law enforcement saying you’ve been victim of a scam.
“They’ll then say they’ve transferred money into your account to purchase something like iTunes cards so they can track the transaction. They’ve actually moved money between your accounts so it’s actually your money.”
According to the Australian Police Journal, in 2016 close to $300 million were scammed from Australians aged 60 to 90 years old.
Pretending to be from the likes of Telstra or NBN, making Government threats or telling you you’ve won the lotto, scammers can be convincing and might know your name and address.
Sergeant Fleming has been working with community groups to “spread the word” in an effort to reduce the amount of victims of scams.
“If you are at all doubtful about who you are talking to or doing business with do not give them any information about yourself,” Mr Fleming said.
“If it sounds too good to be true then chances are it’s a scam.”
To see if the information you have matches a scam visit www.scamwatch.gov.au.