Millions of consumers and businesses around the world are being fleeced of tens of billions of dollars by mass marketing frauds, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair Peter Kell warned while launching the Global Day of Action – Think Fraud campaign.
The campaign is part of a world-wide effort by the International Mass Marketing Fraud Working Group to combat advance fee fraud.
"Mass marketed fraud uses mass-communications media – including the internet, mass mailings and telephones – to contact, solicit, and obtain money, property, or other items of value from multiple victims in one or more jurisdictions," Mr Kell said.
"Consumers are tricked into providing smaller amounts of money upfront in order to obtain larger amounts later in the form of prizes or a long lost inheritance. These smaller amounts are usually expenses such as government taxes and/or legal fees."
Mass marketing fraud is the major type of consumer fraud reported to the ACCC, representing 54 per cent of scam reports made to the agency in 2009. The ACCC received more than 20,000 scam reports in 2009. This represents an increase of about 16 per cent when compared with 2008.
In Australia, Commonwealth and State and Territory enforcement agencies are working together to alert consumers to the dangers of advance fee fraud and to think before responding to offers that look too good to be true.
The Working Group's Threat Assessment Report will assist agencies in developing enhanced counter measures to detect, deter and disrupt mass marketed fraudulent activity.
"These operations are increasingly transnational, interconnected and highly adaptive and make detection, disruption and prosecution difficult for domestic law enforcement agencies," Mr Kell said.
"The Day of Action is a pertinent reminder that scams target all consumers regardless of age, education and gender. Scams need to be taken seriously, as many scams are now part of international criminal networks," Mr Kell said.
To support the Day of Action, the ACCC has commissioned a follow up survey from its 2009 Scam Activity Report to look at consumers' experiences with scams.
The Working Group consists of a number of domestic and international law enforcement agencies, including the ACCC, State and Territory law enforcement agencies, the US Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the UK Office of Fair Trading, Europol, and the Nigerian Economic Financial Crime Commission.
For more information about Mass Marketed Advance Fee Fraud or to obtain a copy of the Threat Assessment or to report a scam visit www.scamwatch.gov.au or call 1300 795 995.