Scams aren't always 'hit-and-run' incidents, with fraudsters now spending long periods of time communicating with their victims.
In his late 70s, Robert has decades of experience as a business owner who regularly invests money with legitimate firms. He was eventually assigned a "financial advisor" who was not only professional and patient with him but also gave Robert a code to quote in all future calls to prevent "someone trying to scam you."As the weeks went on, the "financial advisor" continued to call Robert regularly to give him "updates" on how his investment was tracking."He told me he'd made over $3,000 American dollars. And then he showed me on my computer," Robert recalled.
" also more likely to talk to them on a personal level ... A lot of people will say 'I felt close to that person. I really trusted them.The ATO says tax-related scams have almost doubled this year compared to last. Here's what to watch out for."So, for instance, there might be a family member to the potential victim 'I think you're talking to a scammer' and the scammer will say, 'They just don't know. They just don't understand.
Professor Whitty says that when it comes to solutions, there isn't enough education for the elderly community, who she says are "becoming a much more vulnerable group.""One, education in the right places because they're not going to look at government websites. And so where do you get that education to them? That might be their community centres, libraries, things like that," she said.
She said there was no doubt that digital literacy would be an essential skill in 2024, and thankfully, more and more people were signing up for the program. Anyone over 15 can take this course, with the current Broken Hill cohort including one student in their 80s.