National communications consumer body ACCAN is encouraging consumers to Stop, Check, and Protect to remain scam safe this Black Friday and Christmas sales season.

With nearly $7 billion expected to be spent in the four-day period between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, criminals will be intensifying efforts to steal money from unsuspecting online shoppers.

ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett urged consumers to stay vigilant. ’'It only takes a few minutes to arm yourself with the know-how to remain safe while shopping online so ‘stop, check and protect’ when shopping online. If you have any doubts, don’t hand over personal details or money, and be sure to report suspicious websites to Scamwatch.” 

The National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC), the forum of industry participants, regulators and community organisations which aims to make Australia a harder target for scammers, is making a difference in the fight against scams. Eighteen months since its establishment, it is reporting scam losses are down by 41% in the last year.

We can all help to reduce losses even further. Australians should:

Stop - confirm you are buying from a real online store and not a fake website.

Check - make sure you are on the official website of the company you are shopping from. Don’t assume your first search result turns up a genuine website.

Protect - act quickly if something feels wrong, and report any suspicious websites to Scamwatch.

“Despite all the progress that has been made to stamp out the scourge of scams, we know that criminals use social media and internet search advertising services to promote fake websites which rip-off Australians,” Ms Bennett said.

“It seems that for each website authorities take down, there is another created in its place.”

Through a pro-bono collaboration with Google, ACCAN’s Guide to Stopping Scams video will be promoted as a pre-video advertisement for Australian YouTube audiences between 29 November and 6 December 2024.

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