Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now. We're keen to talk about Territorians, particularly seniors,
being urged to speak up, to share and report scams
this week with scam awareness in the spotlight now. Scammers
tend to target older Australians due to their perceived vulnerability
and often believe that they may have substantial life savings.
(00:21):
Joining us on the line to tell us a little
bit more about how you can protect yourself is National
Seniors Australia Chief Executive Officer Chris Grice. Good morning to you,
Chris hi here going yeah, really well, Chris Fursley, can
you take us through the stats when it comes to
scams impacting seniors and the losses incurred.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, I guess at the moment, in particular the cohort
of age plus sixty five, they're the ones that are
actually being impacted the most in terms of the current scams.
And we're looking at about last year's numbers were over
seventy two and a half thousand scams reported one hundred
(01:06):
and twenty million dollars was the loss and through things
like investment romance and fishing scams unfortunately, and they're through
like phone calls, all all online scams that actually occurred.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It's terrible, isn't it. And it's like it's it's terrible
that they that scam is quite often target more senior Australians.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, exactly is that? And I think it's because of
you know that they're I guess embracing technology, but it's
new to them. Many of them, you know, sort of
didn't use computers sort of a large extent in their
employment situation, and I guess that, you know, they're sort
of they sometimes don't have that support as well, they
(01:51):
don't necessarily have friends that maybe they're all in the
same situation where they're all sort of struggling their way through,
and then sometimes they just inadvertently click on things like
links and what have you that they don't actually realize
that it's actually something sinister, that it's not something friendly.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Now, I know they must be all types of different
sort of methods that scammers use, but are there are
they commonly sort of used scams that result in financial losses.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
The Believe it or Not. In terms of the last
twelve months, phone calls were the number one contact method
used by scammers and that's where the most amount of
money was lost, where people actually ringing up proporing to
be from whether it's the tax office or a government department,
(02:42):
or from their bank. And and basically unfortunately people and
in Burntley are sort of thinking that these people are
real and they're handing over their personal details and then
that's where it all starts to go wrong in terms
of the being scanned. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Look, had we've had different senior territorians come on the
show before and tell us about situations where they've been scammed,
and I actually think it's so important that they do
to just raise that awareness as well for others, because
it can happen so much more easily than what people realize.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Exactly. There used to be very much a stigma attached
that like you were supposedly, oh, you know, you should
have known better. But the thing is that the scams
are so sophisticated. Even people who are from the technology
industry or in financial services they can't even tell. So
(03:38):
if they can't tell, well, then you know, seeing as
sort of are never going to hope have a hope
in terms of being able to work out what's right
and wrong. And I suppose that's probably the key message
is that if in doubt, just stop yep, they know,
hang up or delete that link if you're uncertain, and
I guess, you know, check with people, whether it's an
(04:00):
other organization, or check with a friend or a work
colleague or whatever to see, hey, look, does this look right.
And obviously if it is a scam, report and report
those scams to scam Watch and the website address for
that is scam watch dot gov dot dot au.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And that's one of the other things as well, Chris,
that we've been told over the years doing the show
that sometimes when it happens as well, people get so
sort of embarrassed that they don't even want to tell
their family or they don't even sort of want to
tell anybody because they they they're almost quite ashamed of
the fact that it's happened. But they, you know, little
(04:38):
do they realize that it's happening way more often or
to way more people than what they probably thought.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Exactly, and probably that you know that number that I
quoted before around that's seventy odd thousand scams and one
hundred and twenty million dollars that's what's been reported exactly.
To your point, there's probably a big chunk that, you know,
beyond that number and people shouldn't not feel embarrassed by this.
And I guess the more that we have I guess
the community shares this information, it means that less people
(05:09):
are going to be scammed because they're going to be
on the lookout for certain things that are going to
come through. And probably an important quickly an important thing
to mention is that there's an organization called id Care.
So id Care there are a national identity and cyber
support service. It's free of charge, and what they do
(05:29):
is they actually support people that if they have been scammed,
they help them basically get their I guess their life
back together in terms of getting their identity back. And
their phone number is one eight hundred five nine five
one six zero or at idcare dot org. And they
(05:49):
are an independent organization, not for profit and their job
is to actually help people like seniors to resurrect their
personal situation that if they have been scammed, and they
provide that support to make them safe again online.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Well, Chris Grice, the National Senior Australia Chief Executive Officer,
I really appreciate your time this morning. I know a
lot of our senior listeners this morning will as well.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Excellent thank you, thank you for your time, thank
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You, thanks so much,
Right now. We're keen to talk about Territorians, particularly seniors,
being urged to speak up, to share and report scams
this week with scam awareness in the spotlight now. Scammers
tend to target older Australians due to their perceived vulnerability
and often believe that they may have substantial life savings.
(00:21):
Joining us on the line to tell us a little
bit more about how you can protect yourself is National
Seniors Australia Chief Executive Officer Chris Grice. Good morning to you,
Chris hi here going yeah, really well, Chris Fursley, can
you take us through the stats when it comes to
scams impacting seniors and the losses incurred.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, I guess at the moment, in particular the cohort
of age plus sixty five, they're the ones that are
actually being impacted the most in terms of the current scams.
And we're looking at about last year's numbers were over
seventy two and a half thousand scams reported one hundred
(01:06):
and twenty million dollars was the loss and through things
like investment romance and fishing scams unfortunately, and they're through
like phone calls, all all online scams that actually occurred.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It's terrible, isn't it. And it's like it's it's terrible
that they that scam is quite often target more senior Australians.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, exactly is that? And I think it's because of
you know that they're I guess embracing technology, but it's
new to them. Many of them, you know, sort of
didn't use computers sort of a large extent in their
employment situation, and I guess that, you know, they're sort
of they sometimes don't have that support as well, they
(01:51):
don't necessarily have friends that maybe they're all in the
same situation where they're all sort of struggling their way through,
and then sometimes they just inadvertently click on things like
links and what have you that they don't actually realize
that it's actually something sinister, that it's not something friendly.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Now, I know they must be all types of different
sort of methods that scammers use, but are there are
they commonly sort of used scams that result in financial losses.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
The Believe it or Not. In terms of the last
twelve months, phone calls were the number one contact method
used by scammers and that's where the most amount of
money was lost, where people actually ringing up proporing to
be from whether it's the tax office or a government department,
(02:42):
or from their bank. And and basically unfortunately people and
in Burntley are sort of thinking that these people are
real and they're handing over their personal details and then
that's where it all starts to go wrong in terms
of the being scanned. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Look, had we've had different senior territorians come on the
show before and tell us about situations where they've been scammed,
and I actually think it's so important that they do
to just raise that awareness as well for others, because
it can happen so much more easily than what people realize.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Exactly. There used to be very much a stigma attached
that like you were supposedly, oh, you know, you should
have known better. But the thing is that the scams
are so sophisticated. Even people who are from the technology
industry or in financial services they can't even tell. So
(03:38):
if they can't tell, well, then you know, seeing as
sort of are never going to hope have a hope
in terms of being able to work out what's right
and wrong. And I suppose that's probably the key message
is that if in doubt, just stop yep, they know,
hang up or delete that link if you're uncertain, and
I guess, you know, check with people, whether it's an
(04:00):
other organization, or check with a friend or a work
colleague or whatever to see, hey, look, does this look right.
And obviously if it is a scam, report and report
those scams to scam Watch and the website address for
that is scam watch dot gov dot dot au.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And that's one of the other things as well, Chris,
that we've been told over the years doing the show
that sometimes when it happens as well, people get so
sort of embarrassed that they don't even want to tell
their family or they don't even sort of want to
tell anybody because they they they're almost quite ashamed of
the fact that it's happened. But they, you know, little
(04:38):
do they realize that it's happening way more often or
to way more people than what they probably thought.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Exactly, and probably that you know that number that I
quoted before around that's seventy odd thousand scams and one
hundred and twenty million dollars that's what's been reported exactly.
To your point, there's probably a big chunk that, you know,
beyond that number and people shouldn't not feel embarrassed by this.
And I guess the more that we have I guess
the community shares this information, it means that less people
(05:09):
are going to be scammed because they're going to be
on the lookout for certain things that are going to
come through. And probably an important quickly an important thing
to mention is that there's an organization called id Care.
So id Care there are a national identity and cyber
support service. It's free of charge, and what they do
(05:29):
is they actually support people that if they have been scammed,
they help them basically get their I guess their life
back together in terms of getting their identity back. And
their phone number is one eight hundred five nine five
one six zero or at idcare dot org. And they
(05:49):
are an independent organization, not for profit and their job
is to actually help people like seniors to resurrect their
personal situation that if they have been scammed, and they
provide that support to make them safe again online.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Well, Chris Grice, the National Senior Australia Chief Executive Officer,
I really appreciate your time this morning. I know a
lot of our senior listeners this morning will as well.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Excellent thank you, thank you for your time, thank
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You, thanks so much,
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