Bonnie & Clyde Re-Run - Aussie Realty Scam

Australia's red hot housing market is prime for scammers.
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The rise of the Aussie scammers could well be a movie playing out in the country’s property market as you sip your morning cuppa.

How's that mate?

📎 An overheated realty market.

📎 Hackers on the prowl.

📎 Millions being scammed overnight.

📎 Rising prices are bringing more property settlement scams.

📎 Most victims are individual buyers or business owners.

How and why are they doing it

1️⃣ Impersonating agents/conveyancers, taking money for home deposits.

2️⃣ Bad cyber-security and bank verification slip-ups.

3️⃣ Huge increase in average transaction values, making everyone targets.

What it looks like

💀 ACCC Scamwatch reports at least two scams every week.

💀 14 scam reports in March, with 25 in total for 2022 so far.

💀 Losses of 186% at AUD1.8 million.

💀 NSW’s (costliest in Australia) housing market took first place in terms of money lost (AUD4.3 million) in the period of Jan 2021-March 2022.

💀 Scamsters are also snatching stamp duties intended for state revenue departments.

💀 Most belong to Nigeria and the U.S.

What you should do

✅ No transfer requests through email.

✅ Check account details and verify identity before sending large sums.

✅ Setup a two-factor email authentication.

✅ Payment info change request? Check with the organisation first. 

Essentially, this market needs to cool-down, while banks down under need a good shake-up. 

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