Adept IT Solutions Newcastle – Beware of Christmas Scams!

December 11, 2017

Adept IT Solutions & The ACCC is warning the community to be wary of scammers trying to ruin their Christmas holidays.

Adept IT Solutions Newcastle - Beware of Christmas Scams! - Adept IT Solutions | IT Service and Support Newcastle, Hunter and Central Coast

“Scammers often try to take advantage of people during the busy Christmas period and prey on our vulnerabilities at this time of year. For example, they may take advantage of you looking for a good deal on a family holiday, searching for a loved one’s present at an online store, or even that you’re expecting a present from someone through the post.”

Watch out for three common holiday season scams:

  • Travel scams: scammers trick their victims into believing they’ve won a travel prize or scored a really good deal on a travel package, like a cruise. Unfortunately these seemingly too-good-to-be-true holidays are nothing more than a scammer’s con. In the past 12 months, nearly $86,000 has been lost to this scam, with about 1750 reports.
  • Online shopping scams: scammers will set up believable looking online stores to trick people into goods that don’t really exist. They might also set up fake online classified or auction site listings. They entice people with legitimate looking discounts and may even advertise items as the perfect Christmas present for a loved one. This scam has cost Australians more than $1.3 million in the past 12 months, with more than 6440 reports.
  • Parcel delivery scams: with millions of packages moving across the country to get under a Christmas tree in time, scammers will send fake ‘missed delivery’ notices to potential victims. These scams are aimed at getting people to download malware or ransomware onto their PCs, which can be costly to remove; or steal their personal information. Scamwatch has received about 1700 reports of this scam in the past 12 months.

Adept IT Solutions are here for you. If you ever have any doubt about the legitimacy of a website or email, please contact us at support@adept-it.com.au and a friendly security specialist will assist you further.

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