More than 300 people attended two scams awareness events on the Central Coast on October 24 hosted by the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones.
Following successful scam forums across the country, the forums were co-hosted by Member for Robertson Gordon Reid at Davistown RSL, with more than 200 in attendance, and Member for Dobell Emma McBride at Long Jetty, where over 100 residents were present.
The forums focused on educating Central Coast residents on how to protect themselves against scammers, how to recognise scams and what to do if they’ve been scammed.
According to IDCare, residents across the Robertson electorate have lost more than $2M in scams in 2023 alone.
In the Dobell electorate residents have lost more than $1.5M this year and 14 locals have contacted IDCare just this week.
Almost everyone in the room at both forums raised a hand when asked if they had received a scam call, text or email in the past month.
The Government recently announced an $86.5M package to tackle scams and online fraud, headlined by the establishment of a cutting-edge National Anti-Scams Centre (NASC) which began operations on July 1.
The NASC is the Government’s primary weapon to detect, disrupt and deter scammers and tackle online fraud.
In a world-leading partnership between government agencies, banks, telcos and digital platforms, the NASC will: use cutting-edge technology to share intelligence across government and with authorised industry participants to interrupt scams in real time; combine the expertise of government and the private sector to disrupt scams; and raise consumer awareness on the risk of scams and how to avoid them.
Jones said he had run more than a dozen local scam forums across the country.
“I continue to hear more and more stories of people who have lost thousands of dollars to scammers,” he said.
“Enough is enough; the government is fighting back.
“With the establishment of the National Anti-Scams Centre, we are driving home a clear message; the government is putting scammers on notice.”
He suggested residents take their time before giving money or personal information, ask themselves if the message or call could be fake and act quickly if something feels wrong.
“Contact your bank and report scams to the National Anti-scam Centre via scamwatch.gov.au,” he said.
Reid encouraged residents to contact the National Anti-Scams Centre if they suspect a scam has targeted them.
He said he would host another forum in the new year and that information booklets on scams were available from his office.
McBride said the most common scams were received via email or text message.”
“The National Anti-Scams centre is a big step forward in protecting locals,” she said.
Terry Collins