From scam awareness to meta-scams: Fraud's growing complexity
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In an age where our inboxes and phones are constantly barraged with phishing emails and scam calls, Australians have become increasingly vigilant.
However, our growing awareness of scams has led to a new, insidious type of fraud: the meta-scam.
This is where scammers prey on our fear of being scammed, presenting themselves as saviours only to dupe us again.
Scammers, aware of the public's heightened awareness of scams, have begun impersonating organisations that offer help to scam victims or claim to be able to recover lost funds.
Kam-Fung Cheung, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales School of Information Systems and Technology Management, describes this approach as ‘authority exploitation’.
‘People tend to trust and comply with requests when they believe they are dealing with a trustworthy source,’ he said
‘This tactic — authority exploitation — leverages people's trust in authority to make them less likely to question the authenticity of the communication.’
‘They're also known to use emotional manipulation, invoking fear and urgency to push victims into acting impulsively, such as providing one-time passcodes without proper verification.’
‘This tactic plays on fear and urgency, pushing victims to act impulsively, such as providing the one-time passcode, without verifying the legitimacy of the communication.’
One example is exploiting the National Anti-Scam Centre's (NASC) reputation.
The NASC, an initiative under the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is a legitimate government body that protects Australians from scams.
Yet, criminals have been cold-calling individuals, posing as NASC employees, and spinning tales of a scam linked to the victim's phone number in China.
They offer to 'clear your record' but instead use the opportunity to extract personal and financial information, which can lead to bank theft.
They may employ techniques such as 'spoofing' to make it appear that their calls come from genuine government or police numbers.
Another tactic involves scammers targeting victims again by pretending to be fund recovery services, cyber security organisations, or even lawyers and consumer advocacy groups.
They promise to retrieve money lost to previous scams, asking for fees or personal details, only to steal more funds from the victim.
The ACCC warned that legitimate scam investigation services rarely recover money, as most stolen funds are quickly transferred offshore.
‘Legitimate scam investigation services are rarely able to recover money for scam victims,’ an ACCC statement said.
‘Unfortunately, most money stolen by criminals is transferred offshore quickly, making recovering funds difficult.’
It's more than just mentioning names and using scare tactics—scammers employ various techniques to enhance the credibility of their lies.
‘Regarding SMS, scammers can use the SMS Sender ID of trusted authorities and businesses such as Medicare to make the message "genuinely" sent from them,’ Dr Cheung said.
‘Regarding email, scammers can change their aliases and names to appear as the emails sent from a trusted authority.’
These criminals make cold calls and advertise, mimicking legitimate businesses.
According to ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe, there have been reports of people being deceived by these fraudulent schemes.
‘Victims unknowingly proactively contacted criminals after seeing advertisements online,’ she said.
‘As part of our initial response, the National Anti-Scam Centre has referred two websites used in recovery scams for take-down action.‘
‘One has been successfully taken down already.’
You can protect yourself by verifying the identity of callers and the source of messages.
If someone claims to be from a trusted authority, do your due diligence to confirm their identity before engaging further.
‘If someone claims to be from a trusted authority, verify their identity before answering any questions.‘ Dr Cheung said.
‘If you cannot verify the caller, hang up immediately.’
If someone claims to be a loved one and you're suspicious, Dr Cheung suggested verifying their identity by discussing details that only you and your loved one would know.
‘If you receive an email from an unknown sender, always verify the domain before acting on its contents,’
Have you encountered any of these meta-scams? How do you stay vigilant against these ever-evolving threats? Share your experiences and tips in the comments below.
However, our growing awareness of scams has led to a new, insidious type of fraud: the meta-scam.
This is where scammers prey on our fear of being scammed, presenting themselves as saviours only to dupe us again.
Scammers, aware of the public's heightened awareness of scams, have begun impersonating organisations that offer help to scam victims or claim to be able to recover lost funds.
Kam-Fung Cheung, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales School of Information Systems and Technology Management, describes this approach as ‘authority exploitation’.
‘People tend to trust and comply with requests when they believe they are dealing with a trustworthy source,’ he said
Scammers posed as organisations or authorities offering help to victims or claiming they could recover lost money. Credit: Shutterstock
‘This tactic — authority exploitation — leverages people's trust in authority to make them less likely to question the authenticity of the communication.’
‘They're also known to use emotional manipulation, invoking fear and urgency to push victims into acting impulsively, such as providing one-time passcodes without proper verification.’
‘This tactic plays on fear and urgency, pushing victims to act impulsively, such as providing the one-time passcode, without verifying the legitimacy of the communication.’
One example is exploiting the National Anti-Scam Centre's (NASC) reputation.
The NASC, an initiative under the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is a legitimate government body that protects Australians from scams.
Yet, criminals have been cold-calling individuals, posing as NASC employees, and spinning tales of a scam linked to the victim's phone number in China.
They offer to 'clear your record' but instead use the opportunity to extract personal and financial information, which can lead to bank theft.
They may employ techniques such as 'spoofing' to make it appear that their calls come from genuine government or police numbers.
Another tactic involves scammers targeting victims again by pretending to be fund recovery services, cyber security organisations, or even lawyers and consumer advocacy groups.
They promise to retrieve money lost to previous scams, asking for fees or personal details, only to steal more funds from the victim.
The ACCC warned that legitimate scam investigation services rarely recover money, as most stolen funds are quickly transferred offshore.
‘Legitimate scam investigation services are rarely able to recover money for scam victims,’ an ACCC statement said.
‘Unfortunately, most money stolen by criminals is transferred offshore quickly, making recovering funds difficult.’
It's more than just mentioning names and using scare tactics—scammers employ various techniques to enhance the credibility of their lies.
‘Regarding SMS, scammers can use the SMS Sender ID of trusted authorities and businesses such as Medicare to make the message "genuinely" sent from them,’ Dr Cheung said.
‘Regarding email, scammers can change their aliases and names to appear as the emails sent from a trusted authority.’
These criminals make cold calls and advertise, mimicking legitimate businesses.
According to ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe, there have been reports of people being deceived by these fraudulent schemes.
‘Victims unknowingly proactively contacted criminals after seeing advertisements online,’ she said.
‘As part of our initial response, the National Anti-Scam Centre has referred two websites used in recovery scams for take-down action.‘
‘One has been successfully taken down already.’
You can protect yourself by verifying the identity of callers and the source of messages.
If someone claims to be from a trusted authority, do your due diligence to confirm their identity before engaging further.
‘If someone claims to be from a trusted authority, verify their identity before answering any questions.‘ Dr Cheung said.
‘If you cannot verify the caller, hang up immediately.’
If someone claims to be a loved one and you're suspicious, Dr Cheung suggested verifying their identity by discussing details that only you and your loved one would know.
‘If you receive an email from an unknown sender, always verify the domain before acting on its contents,’
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