TRENDS & ISSUES in crime and criminal justice ISSN 0817-8542 ISBN 978 1 921185 69 4 GPO Box 2944 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia Tel: 02 6260 9272 Fax: 02 6260 9293 For a complete list and the full text of the papers in the Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice series, visit the AIC website at: http://www.aic.gov.au Disclaimer: This research paper does not necessarily reflect the policy position of the Australian Government. Project no. 0132 Ethics approval no. PO112 Dataset no. 0104 No. 349 February 2008 As part of a global effort to fight mass-marketed consumer scams, each year consumer protection agencies in 33 western countries participate in a month of fraud prevention activities to raise awareness of the problem and to provide advice to consumers on how to avoid being victimised. In Australia and New Zealand, 19 government agencies comprise the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT), which conducted a campaign in March 2007 with the theme ‘Scams target you – protect yourself’. This paper describes the activities undertaken by the ACFT and assesses the impact that the publicity had on official reporting of scams by consumers. The results of an online survey of 841 self-selected respondents are also presented. It is concluded that the campaign was highly effective in raising consumer awareness, with reporting rates increasing substantially throughout the period of the campaign. Toni Makkai Director Between 5 and 31 March 2007, members of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT) participated in the month of fraud prevention awareness-raising activities undertaken annually by members of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. Each year members of the network select a theme to achieve the greatest impact on consumers living in their respective countries. For the 2007 campaign in Australia and New Zealand, the ACFT developed the theme ‘Scams target you – protect yourself’, with four targeted risk areas examined in each of the four weeks of the campaign: protect your money, protect your phone, protect your computer and protect your identity. These were considered the most likely avenues to defraud consumers. During each week of the campaign, members were asked to focus on one or more fraud prevention initiatives relevant to each risk area, with the following key pieces of advice to be delivered: 1 Protect your money 2 Protect your phone Never respond to an email asking for your PIN or • password Never send money to someone you don’t know or trust • Only invest with licensed financial services providers • Be suspicious of unexpected calls and text messages • Hang up. Or text ‘STOP’ to unwanted messages • Don’t give out your number to just anyone • 3 Protect your computer 4 Protect your identity Keep your protection software up to date • Don’t respond in any way to unsolicited emails • If in doubt, delete • Never give out your personal information to someone • you don’t know or trust Don’t just bin it – destroy it (old bills, records or • expired cards) Check your credit report at least once a year • Russell G Smith and Tabor Akman Raising public awareness of consumer fraud in Australia brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Analysis and Policy Observatory (APO)