For this year’s Scams Awareness Week, the key theme to combatting scams is to "Share a Story, Stop a Scam."
#ScamsWeek24 will run from Monday 26 – Friday 30 August.
This campaign underscores the critical role that personal experiences play in the fight against financial scams, urging Australians to speak up, share their stories, and report fraudulent activities. Share your scam story using the hashtag #ShareaScamStory to help make Australia a harder target for scammers.
The Power of Sharing
FINSIA is delighted to be partnering with the Banking & Financial Services Oath (BFSO) to welcome participants in the BFSO’s 2024 Young Ambassador Program into the FINSIA membership community.
The BFSO Young Ambassador Program encourages and supports students, graduates and young professionals to adopt a strong ethical foundation as they begin their careers in the banking and financial services industry. The BFSO Young Ambassadors participate in ethics education and workshops that increase their ethical literacy and strengthen their capacity to make ethical choices. Each year, the participants apply their learnings to a project which addresses a gap in the industry or community.
As part of the collaboration between BFSO and FINSIA, we are working to spread awareness this #ScamsWeek24 through personal stories which are invaluable tools in raising awareness and combating scams.
BSFO’s SCAMS project group chose to raise awareness amongst young Australians about the growing proliferation of scams.
Working with the National Anti-Scams Centre (NASC), the BFSO SCAMS project group created a series of short videos targeting young people and encouraging them to share their experiences and reporting to scamwatch.gov.
The central idea behind the video series is that personal stories are invaluable tools in raising awareness and combating scams.
When individuals share their experiences with scams—whether they’ve been targeted or have successfully navigated a scam— they contribute to a broader understanding of the tactics used by scammers. This collective knowledge is crucial in helping others recognize warning signs and take preventative action.
“Working in the front lines of financial services for the last four years, I really saw an increase in scams,” Ben Duffield Capability & Performance Lead, Westpac and 2023 BFSO Young Ambassador said.
“Too many times I had people coming to my office to say I have lost money and feel helpless. When coming into the BFSO Young Ambassadors program there was an opportunity to do a project to try and raise ethical awareness in scams.”
APRA Senior Analyst and 2023 BFSO Young Ambassador Upasna Khastgir said financial scams have becoming increasingly unethical because they exploit people’s trust and they leverage off deception, fraudulent behaviour and that impact goes well beyond just financial loss.
“That breakdown in trust means individuals are less likely going to have trust in institutions,” she said.
“They’re less likely to have trust in people and it can really undermine their confidence when they’re making decisions which has a far-reaching impact.”
Investment scams most significant
Australians reported a record number of scams last year, with losses totalling $2.7 billion, according to the ACCC Target Scams 2023 report.
More than 601,000 reports about scams were made in 2023, up from the 507,000 reported in 2022.
Investment scams stole more than any other type of scam, accounting for more than $1.3 billion in losses.
“Everyone has a part to play in shutting down criminal scammers. By talking to each other, we can make sure no one is alone in the fight against scams,” ScamWatch said.
“This year, we are encouraging all Australians to speak up, share and report scams to help others identify, avoid, report and recover from scams.”
“We want you to share scam stories on your platforms. Sharing scam stories makes others in the community aware of the scams that are out there, and how they can avoid them.
“Organisations should reach out to their network of contributors to encourage them to share their scam stories, whether this be through the organisation’s platforms or the contributor’s own platforms.”
Find out more about BFSO’s project to raise awareness amongst young Australians about the growing proliferation of scams here.
Find out more about Scam Watch’s Scams Awareness Week 2024 here.
Jason’s story: A #ScamsWeek 2024 case study
Jason had been researching cryptocurrency investments on WhatsApp. At the same time, a scammer called “Jenny” approached Jason on a different forum and they started chatting, developing what Jason thought was a good friendship. Eventually, Jenny mentioned that her uncle was very successful in cryptocurrency investments. She explained that regular returns were up to 60% and offered to arrange Jason’s investment through her uncle, so he knew his money would be safe.
Jason agreed to make an initial investment and was impressed with how much he’d profited. Jenny encouraged him to invest larger amounts, which continued to make good returns. Jason trusted Jenny and had no suspicions about his new successful investment portfolio.
Jason’s bank contacted him several times, concerned about the large sums of money he was investing in cryptocurrencies in such a short time. He’d been so careful in setting up multiple cryptocurrency wallets and by starting with smaller investments, he didn’t believe it was a scam. The bank refused to transfer any more money to any cryptocurrency facility.
Eventually, Jason attempted to start withdrawing his profits. He found he had no access to his cryptocurrency wallet, and he couldn’t get in contact with his friend Jenny, who had arranged the investments. Jason had over $500,000 stolen.
Sharing his story
Jason reported the scam and then phoned a financial counsellor. Jason felt relieved to share his story without fear of judgement. He was too embarrassed to tell anyone he knew that he’d been scammed.
