Thousands of job and employment scams have robbed Australians of millions of dollars in the past two years.
The problem is bad enough to be the focus of Scamwatch’s latest ‘fusion cell’ – a coordinated crackdown involving both government and industry – and the results are alarming.
In the first three months of the Employment Fraud Unit launched in September, the National Anti-Fraud Center (NASC) has taken down 200 employment fraud websites.
Another 200 phone numbers were flagged as law enforcement, government agencies and cryptocurrency platforms work with the NASC to freeze or limit the use of cryptocurrency wallets in job scams.
Now Australians have been given a new warning – and informed about the links between these types of scams and social media.
“Scamwatch has already received 2,260 reports of job and employment fraud in 2024. with total losses of almost $9.7 million,” the NASC said.
“In 2023 4,831 job and recruitment scams were reported to Scamwatch, with losses totaling almost $24.4 million.’
ACCC deputy chairwoman Catriona Lowe said job scams use impersonation techniques and can be informed and facilitated through social media.
“Job scams involve criminals posing as legitimate businesses or recruiters and targeting job seekers with lucrative offers to complete tasks – tricking their victims into handing over money,” she said.
“They routinely take over or create fake profiles on social media, messaging platforms and apps – and pose as a friend or romantic interest, a financial advisor or a business offering a job opportunity.”
“They learn a lot about you from what you share on social media and trick you into sharing personal information, which they then use to direct you to other scams.”
The number of cases where social media has been used to defraud consumers has also risen sharply – the fraudulent contact method linked to the biggest losses this year so far.
Social media scams accounted for just seven per cent of the more than 216,000 public reports received by Scamwatch in the first 10 months of this year.
But the financial losses accrued from just those 14,156 frauds accounted for a whopping 22 percent of the nation’s total $262 million in fraud-related losses.
There was also a 146 percent increase in reported financial losses related to social media in the September quarter alone, Lowe said.
“This shows how lucrative these scams are for the criminal groups behind them – and serves as a reminder to all of us to be suspicious of anyone who unexpectedly contacts us on social media,” she said.
Job Scam Fusion Cell Will Run Till March 2025
