Article on SCAMS for Members Website

Last Updated April 2006 | Read 2007 Advertising Offers Article

Return to Index | Media Release from NSW Minister of Fair Trading

The Internet or World Wide Web has provided us all with the magic of an immediate marketing presence (our websites) limited only by our imagination … and our resources. It has also provided us with access to the world in a way we could never have imagined twenty or so years ago. Communication by email is ready and immediate for possible guests to reach us for enquiries and bookings from anywhere at any time.

Unhappily the potential for us to be reached by the less scrupulous of this world is also expanded with "web crawlers" and other devices making our "presence" visible to those we have no interest in attracting. A "web crawler" is a device that looks for email addresses on the internet. These email addresses are then sold to spammers (marketers) who send unsolicited emails.

This has meant that we are all faced with the potential for dishonest and inappropriate – and very clever – approaches to us. Their sole aim is to extract money from us. The ingenuity of the scammers is matched by our innocence, on one hand, and the extent to which we have our attention fragmented in managing our businesses, on the other. These scammers are becoming more sophisticated and even experienced web users may be fooled at one time or another.

When we hear of a scam, say while watching evening current affairs television, we are tempted to wonder sometimes just how anyone could get caught by the so-called "free lunch" they offer us. Nonetheless, when an old scam is dressed up in new clothes and catches us at a busy moment, particularly when there is a sense of urgency about the approach, we still get caught!

Sometime it’s a small amount of money involved, other times the potential loss is much greater. The message is that we ought to be very concerned at any request that does not emanate from an entity well known to us or from someone we can trust.

This page is designed, therefore, as a service for members providing a reference point they may use when defending against the growing number of internet and, indeed "hard copy" fraudsters.

The page will be updated from time to time as new scams are brought to our attention.

First, some general tips on how to deal with possible scams:

• If still in doubt ... do nothing.  Certainly avoid making any commitment.

Finally, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is! Make sure you have this web page in your Web Browser’s "Favourites" so you can check any scheme listed here.

This is an old one but is still very much active. An official sounding email expresses a concern about security breaches or some such and asks you to confirm your account details through the web address they provide*. The many websites they direct you to look very "official" as they are dressed up to fool you.

Ignore any email request from any bank or financial institution – even your own. No bank or building society or credit union will communicate this kind of request to you by email. No reputable financial institution will communicate to you asking for this type of information via email . If your financial institution does write to you by email (for another purpose), make sure there is a mechanism for ensuring it is genuine. If this cannot be done to your satisfaction, you might ask them to delete you from their email lists.

* Its good practice NEVER click on a link on an email to see if the site is genuine in any circumstances unless you are absolutely certain of the reliability of the sender; bulletins from the Association, AAATourism or Tourism NSW, for example. If you are not certain the link may well take you to a bogus site that looks just like the real bank or financial institution but is set up just to capture your details.

This is another old chestnut. The "son of" has access to huge funds and needs your bank account to deposit the funds into with the promise that up to half the funds will be left with you for the favour you are doing them. Sounds unbelievable! It is. Once they have your account details their funds disappear and so do yours.

Sometimes this one comes from a so-called first world country purporting to act on behalf of the chief "poo bah" elsewhere.

This is a variant of the previous scam though on a smaller – more sophisticated – level and appears at face value very tempting. The [overseas] agent writes for an accommodation booking for a small party of 4 to 8 people for a two or three week period – could be worth $5-10,000 to the operator; so far they seem to be emanating from the UK.

Once you have confirmed availability, they write to let you know they are willing to pay by card and they ask if they can pay up to twice the required amount to your account with the very polite, additional, request that you forward the additional funds to, say, a car hire company as a favour to them, so they do not have to worry about too many transactions on their clients behalf! Of course, once the "car hire company" receives your funds the original funds disappear from your account** leaving you with a loss and considerable financial embarrassment.

** You should, of course, always be aware of the risks faced when accessing funds from a ‘credit card not present’ because you have little or no recourse if the person disputes the transaction unless you have also been offered their three digit ccv number.

Its quite insidious … take it easy and walk away just as soon as you see the signs

Another one that requires you to let people you don’t know access to your bank details to receive your ‘winnings’. Once you do so, your account cleared out before you can blink

This is another in the "no such thing as a free lunch" class of scam and should be ignored

Nigeria and Indonesia are the card fraud capitals of the world and if you sell goods on the internet and respond to larger orders with full card details provided, you will loose the goods and the funds deposited to your card will evaporate.

This is not one that concerns many but … it is best to either ignore the offer, or let them know you would be delighted to ship the goods just as soon as you receive their bank cheque for the full amount. You’ll not hear from them again!

These folk have picked up your basic details from the White Pages or the OFT’s register of business names and they write asking you to confirm your details so that your listing can be included in the ‘directory’. This involves directories with very "official sounding" names, the sort of thing in which a new operator in particular, might think they cannot afford not to be listed. At least two such "guides" are currently under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading. Nowadays the "guide" may actually exit, though, if you could see its "quality", you’d have a better idea of its value to potential guests and to you.

The "reminder" notice makes a big point of saying "this is not an invoice" so it seems innocuous enough. You ask yourself "could I afford not to be in this guide?" and you are tempted; if you are busy you are likely to say YES!. The process of confirming your details triggers an invoice and fairly vigorous recovery action.

This one is based in Australia and not a big sum of money is involved ($2-300) but there are overseas variants that are a lot more aggressive involving $2-3000.

The local scammers are known to the OFT and it’s a good idea to say "not interested" to any such enquiry (the telephone requests come with a sweet and beguiling Aussie voice). If you are uncertain as to bona fides let them know you want to "check it out with the Office of Fair Trading and in the meanwhile will you please send me a hard copy of the request". If it’s a scam, that’s the last you hear from them … until the next time.

Hard to believe but one busy operator is reported to have been stung twice with the same scam within a month.

Similar to the above with elements of the "scam" listed below. Your information culled from the web. They may even have set up a mini-website for your property using material from your own website.

Give yourself some time to be sure the website has "runs on the board" with the search engines, is easy to operate and the information on the site is accurate and easy to understand before you bother to commit to it. Have nothing to do with them, particularly if they have uplifted material directly from your website; indeed, it would make sense to insist that your listing is removed as replicate material may adversely affect your own search engine performance.

They may be "genuine" in the sense that they are not directly asking for money. They are more than likely a "start-up" operation with little or nor credibility when looked at more closely, and generally not worth the effort in even a free listing.

If in doubt reject their generous offer.

This is a much more insidious version of the previous two scams. The web address of the scammer appears to be that of an "official" site you are well aware of; it may even look like that site in many ways. A recent one is www.accommodationguide.net.au (the questionable site) which is obviously riding on the back of AAAT's www.accommodationguide.com.au (the genuine one) and, indeed, already lists many of the star rated properties that are listed on the AAAT site. The telephone requests for payment for the upgrade follow the same pattern of the calls relating to the national hard copy directories – see above.

There is more than one of these scammers; just say NO! and ask for your listing to be removed from their site.

Similar to the above and may be innocuous enough – particularly as the listings are often "free" – as they are probably trying to build up product on their new "whizz bang – take the WWW by storm – website". The "freeby" may be an all time offer or it may be "free for the next so long".

Either way it is probably not worth your while. There are a few good "referrer" sites worth listing on and your own research will show you which these are. To list "everywhere" almost automatically means you will loose track of your listing and any serious attempt to manage you presence on the web in a useful way. These listings rarely check links and if your web link breaks down or you change you web URL you’ll find the listing goes nowhere. It is also a good way of making sure out of date material is "out there" confounding your guests and embarrassing you in the process

Ignore them unless it’s a listing you know about that really works.

REMEMBER:

Spoof e-mails are prolific – they look official or enticing and when links within the e-mail are clicked the website you are taken to may look equally official.

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