Key Points
- Scamwatch is aware of various government impersonation scams, superannuation scams, online shopping scams and business scams.
- There are several ways to protect your yourself, and computer from malware, if targeted.
In recent years, Australia has seen a surge in cyberattacks, as well as online and telephone scams.
While large-scale cyberattacks tend to target government agencies or companies that store large amounts of customer data, hackers also prey on vulnerable people and communities to steal their personal details.
"Data is valuable,” PwC's Security expert Rob Di Pietro tells SBS News.
He warns cyber criminals “are looking to use this information for their own gain”, as personal information can be sold on the black market for profit.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Delia Rickard says everyone should be aware of scams and take safe steps to reduce their risk of being hacked.
Cyber criminals are constantly looking for large databases of information which means that anyone who holds large databases is at risk unfortunately, it's a fact of modern life.Delia Rickard, The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
During the pandemic, there was a record increase in a number of scams
received over 6,415 scam reports mentioning the coronavirus with more than $9,800,000 in reported losses since the outbreak of COVID-19.
He says there is a wide range of scams relating to medical data in Australia.
They want identifying information, they want health information — and of course that gives them the ability to steal your identity.
"Personal health information is a valuable commodity on the black-market web forums and when someone loses control of this information, it is extremely difficult to regain it," says Dr Hambleton.
Cyber criminals can target anyone. Source: SBS
What is Phishing?
Phishing is one of the most common scams used by cyber criminals to steal user data, such as login credential and credit card numbers.
Dr Hambleton says scammers may be calling you, or contact you via social media, email or text message.
He advises people to think twice before clicking on a link contained in an unsolicited email or text message.
"We're all getting emails now saying that a package couldn't be delivered, [with a message saying] ‘please click on this link’."
If you're not expecting a package, don't click on the link.
"We’re getting accurate logos of these big organisations, like Amazon, like online shopping providers that look real and are asking you for information".
Dr Hambleton advises people to go back to the original purchase order rather than clicking on the link.
Scammers have also created fake online stores claiming to sell products that don’t exist — ranging from cures or vaccinations for COVID-19, to products such as face masks.
Source: Getty Images/Westend61
Government impersonating scams
Scammers are also pretending to be government agencies providing information through text messages and emails “phishing” for people’s information.
These contain malicious links and attachments designed to steal someone’s personal and financial information, explains Dr Hambleton.
For example, text messages appear to come from ‘myGov’, with a malicious link to more information, says Dr Hambleton.
Don't click on that link because that’s not the way MyGov will contact you. Go to the website directly.
Links leading to malware being installed
Dr Suranga Seneviratne is a Lecturer in Security at the School of Computer Science at the University of Sydney.
He says if a person clicks on one of these links, it can install malware that will steal a person’s information.
"They can create a link, where the link contains the malware — the malicious software. So once you click on that link, the malicious software comes to your computer and gets installed," said Dr Seneviratne.
The software actually can record whatever key you type. Then they have a communication channel where they send all the information to the ‘bad guys'.
Source: Getty Images/boonchai wedmakawand
Identity theft and "the dark web"
Shanton Chang is a Professor at the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne.
He says scammers are usually after people's personal information.
If they have your name, address, date of birth and possibly your phone number as well, they can go to your financial institution and pretend to be you.
"It's the way that all official organisations would identify who you are," he added.
He says someone’s personal details can be sold to the dark web, which can result in identity theft.
"Your personal details are highly valuable and can be monetised," he said.
Professor Chang says if someone’s personal details have gone in the wrong hands, their personal information could be used for many months to come.
Personal data is highly valuable and it means that you can create and buy new credit cards; you can create and buy property, all sorts of things all around the world.
Working from home makes people more vulnerable
Dr Priyadarsi Nanda from the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Technology in Sydney says working from home makes people more vulnerable to scams compared to when they were always working in the office.
"Because we are all working from home, we don't have any necessary security measures in place on how we are connected to the internet. In an organisation there are a lot of security measures to protect you".
Source: Pexels/Anna Shvets
How to protect your computer from malware
There are a few ways to protect one’s computer from malware, explains Dr Nanda.
"From time to time you run your antivirus anti-malware software — so scanning all your files," he said.
If one thinks they may have clicked on a malicious link they can take their computer to a tech specialist to check against any malware or any kind of malicious software.
"The third thing is software vendors like Microsoft or Apple send you the patches from time to time. They ask you to install the patches and restart the computer".
Dr Nanda says it's important that people install these updates.
"It's important to report it"
Dr Hambleton says it’s important for people who have been scammed to report it to the authorities.
"There have been thousands of scams reported and there are people have actually lost money and people get embarrassed about that, and don't report it. I think that if you've been scammed, you really should tell someone."