[Sean Camara]

Family of AFP boss fell victim to a scam, AFP vows to fight against the alarming increase of cyber scams​

Family of AFP boss fell victim to a scam, AFP vows to fight against the alarming increase of cyber scams
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An increasing number of Aussies are falling victim to voice scams with 90 per cent admitting that they receive a nuisance call at least once a week, accounting for a financial loss of $66.8 million. If you fell victim to one of these scams, you’re not alone — even the family of a high government official has been victimized.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Reece Kershaw has told Senate Estimates that his own family had been deceived.

An unnamed person in his family received a call from an individual who introduced himself as ‘someone from Telstra.’

AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw told Senate Estimates that his own family has fallen victim to voice scams. Credit: APH.
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This tactic is not unusual as scammers come up with different tricks to fool Australians. One common approach is for the scammers to inform you that there's missing info on a parcel delivery and ask you for them, enabling nefarious things like identity theft. They will then call you with an Aussie mobile number and pretend that they're Home Affairs to 'report that your identity was stolen', among other things.

Commissioner Kershaw told Senate Estimates: “I get multiple [calls] a day, I’ve tried even multiple different numbers and everything, but they seem to be able to find [me].”

The AFP boss also addressed text message scams: “I’m only one click away, and a couple of times I’ve gone ‘oh, DHL, great’ but realised no, because they somehow often time it when your package is due”.

Although the commissioner said that he himself was at the brink of falling prey to a scam, he admitted that his family actually has — resulting in them losing some cash.

“In my family, we had some issues where a company purported to be Telstra – wasn’t Telstra – and managed to get away with some funds. It’s touching all of us. I think all of us have stories like that.”

Given the increasing amount of scam reports and the severity of the incidents in Australia, the AFP is planning to gear up against cybercriminals and launch a dedicated scam investigation arm.

Commissioner Kershaw explained: “We’re actually going through an internal review of how we can be more aggressive in cyber and it may mean a mini restructure internally for us to really have what we would call a cyber offensive operation arm of the AFP."

The recently passed Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021, also known as the 'hacking bill', will also serve as a backbone for AFP's mission to fight scams, according to the AFP boss.

The key takeaways from this article are:
1. Do not click on a link / sms from an unknown source.
2. Do not trust recordings that are clearly not the ATO or your telco provider.
3. Do not provide any personal information unless you are absolutely sure the person you are talking to is who they claim to be.

Do you have any experience receiving suspicious calls or texts? How did you handle these calls or texts? Please share your experience in the comments below so that our other members are on the lookout.

 

[Vinylted]

There have been many attempts, but I just hang up as soon as I realise they want any information, or action from me.

 

[margie]

if i don't know the number i won't answer i tell my friends and family to leave a message and i will get back to them arseholes

 

[Marguerita]

Have not been scammed thank goodness, but heartfully sick of answering the phone to people who do not even know my name.

 

[Danusia]

... yes, I am one of may who got into trap and I have learned my lesson well. Listen to 'them' and without reply put the receiver down. They value their time and it's wasting for them.

 

[Lynette Finnigan]

I had some guy ring me to "clarify a few details about my Commonwealth account".... I don't even have one, so I said.. "sorry, I don't have an account there...I think you have the wrong number" and he immediately hung up....

 

[Maryann Lush]

I sometimes play games with them. I pretend that I am on my computer, and they get all excited. They tell me to enter something, and I repeat it, then say, "yes, I have done that. What next". Then he will ask me to repeat what is showing on my computer, and I reply "Oh, look at that, it is telling me tell the silly b---er who is phoning me to go and scam someone else, and to get off my phone". I then put the phone down and chuckle to myself. Or if they know my name, I pretend that I am not me and say "Sorry, she died last week. She doesn't live here anymore", and then put the phone down. It was my neighbour who gave me that idea. Or I have even said to them straight away when I know it is a scam, "Oh, you want to scam me, don't you. Come on now, be honest with me you really want to scam me don't you", And then they put the phone down. Yes, I cannot resist having a little fun with the b-----ds.

 

[Vera mengham]

There have been many attempts, but I just hang up as soon as I realise they want any information, or action from me.

I ha s many parcel scammers on my phone and i dont open them jjst delete and block