By Renee Wood
The public is urged to be vigilant online as the amount of scams being reported to local police continues to rise.
Yarra Ranges Crime Prevention Officer Linda Hancock said over the weekend several reports were made.
“If you’re buying a tractor you want a legitimate seller, ask if you can come see it first,” Ms Hancock said.
“People pay a deposit whether it’s on Gumtree or Facebook believing this is real, only to be given a bogus address to go to.”
Ms Hancock said it’s a common occurrence happening on social media sites and the public needs to be educated on how to address the criminal behaviour.
“It’s about checking those credentials of the seller – these days you’ve got smart phones and can do Paypal straight away when you pick it up.”
Cash on arrival is another option for buyers, while meeting in a public space was a suggestion Ms Hancock thought could help buyers if it’s a smaller item.
“If it’s small things why not meet at the shopping centre or out the front of the police station. Sometimes you need a public space.
“If you want to meet at the food courts, there are cameras everywhere, so even if something went wrong they could be tracked.”
One of the most recent scams that affected a number of Yarra Ranges resident was a fraudulent sale of a 2017 Jayco Silverline Outback Caravan priced at $9,000.
Yarra Ranges Eyewatch reported receiving several reports on this item, where people sent the funds for the van to a person claiming to be on deployment in the army.
Online buyers are being encouraged to investigate the legitimacy of sales, with the old saying ‘if it’s too good to be true, it probably is’ a strong message to consider.
Ms Hancock said hacking and email scams are another issue plaguing online users and believes scammers are making use of more phone use following the pandemic.
“There’s always loop holes scammers are getting through, that’s their full time job to get through loop holes… It is happening across the board.”
Scam Watch Victoria statistics show that so far this year $9, 914 418 has been lost to buying and selling scams from almost 13 500 reports across the country.
The age group with the highest amount lost is 35 to 44 year olds with almost $2.5 million taken. The next age groups to follow are 44-54 year olds and 25 – 34 year olds respectively.
“We all start from a premise of being honest… No one thinks this is a scam but because there is an increase we have to start educating this general public,” Ms Hancock said.
The public’s encouraged to contact police if they have been scammed with online sales, while they can also go to www.scamwatch.gov.au to report any other suspected fraudulent activity.
