A man has been hospitalised after swallowing a sewing needle embedded in a strawberry purchased from Woolworths. Needles have been found in strawberries sold in Vic and Qld stores. A recall has been issued and consumers are urged to dispose of the products or return them to any Woolworths store for
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The Chinese community in Australia is warned to be wary of two frightening scams targeting them that involve threats of arrest, and extortion via fake kidnappings. So far this year, Scamwatch received nearly 1700 reports about these scams, with losses totalling $1.15 million. The scam is targeting people nationwide. “These scams are
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Scammers swindled nearly $4.7 million from Australian businesses in 2017 according to the ACCC’s latest targeting scams report – a 23 per cent increase compared to 2016. The ACCC’s Scamwatch service received 5432 reports from businesses about scams in 2017. Businesses that fell victim to scammers lost an average of nearly $11,000. “Scammers don’t discriminate
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Indigenous Australians who fell victim to scams in 2017 lost an average of nearly $6500 according to the ACCC’s latest targeting scams report. The ACCC’s Scamwatch website received 1810 scam reports in 2017 from Indigenous people with losses totalling nearly $1.7 million – a 14 per cent increase compared to 2016. “Reports of scam activity
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Australians lost more money to scammers in 2017 than in any other year since the ACCC began reporting on scam activity. According to the ACCC’s ninth annual Targeting scams report released today, more than 200,000 scam reports were submitted to the ACCC, Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) and other federal and state-based government agencies
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Consumer Protection is warning home owners and tradies in WA to be on alert for a known Victorian conman who is masquerading as a landscaper and has already ripped off two consumers and a sub-contractor for large amounts of money. 49 year old Raymond El-Safadi (aka Mohammed Hussein), who operates under ABN 71 802 749
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The ACCC is warning consumers to beware of scammers impersonating energy and telecommunications providers and demanding payments. Scamwatch has received 5000 reports of fake billing scams in the last 12 months, with reported losses of close to $8000. “The scammers typically impersonate well known companies such as Origin, AGL, Telstra and Optus
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WA consumers are being warned to be alert to tax scams which are usually prevalent in the months before and after the end of the financial year. Victims are cold-called by scammers claiming to be from the tax office demanding that a bogus tax debt be paid immediately; otherwise they will
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The ACCC has today commenced proceedings against Telstra, alleging that it made false or misleading representations to consumers in relation to its third-party billing service known as “Premium Direct Billing” (PDB). Related: Telstra to pay $10 million for misleading premium billing charge representations Telstra has admitted that it made these representations and agreed
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Scamwatch is warning people to watch out for scammers setting up fake ads pretending to sell adorable puppies, with more than $310,000 lost and 584 reports about this scam in the past 12 months. “Puppy scammers play on people’s emotions who have their heart set on a particular breed. Once they
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