fbpx

Posts tagged "fraud"

Scammers use phishing attacks to ‘socially engineer’ their way into your savings.

August 21st, 2023 Posted by Fraud Prevention, Internet Safety, Staysmartonline 0 thoughts on “Scammers use phishing attacks to ‘socially engineer’ their way into your savings.”

The latest figures reveal phishing is a practice that is only becoming more and more widespread. Phishing was the most reported scam to Scamwatch in 2022, with the government website recording 74,573 complaints — a 4.6 per cent increase on the previous year. In 2022, the total financial losses from phishing reported to Scamwatch and the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange totalled $157.6 million.

Advances in machine learning and AI have made it harder to detect phishing scams.

The success of a phishing scam hinges on manipulating the emotions and behaviours of a potential victim.

Urgent calls to action requiring a victim to pay off an outstanding tax debt or reactivate a suspended bank account are common techniques used by scammers.  Ofir Turel, professor of information systems management at the University of Melbourne, says scammers appeal to the impulsive part of our brains, using temptation to override restrained, logical thinking.

An iPhone render showing an example of phishing
Phishing attacks commonly employ language that provokes a sense of urgency in its victims.(Supplied: Scamwatch)

Read more..

How scammers use phishing attacks to ‘socially engineer’ their way into your savings
By Judd Boaz and Leanne Wong

$430K stolen from Melbourne High School to feed a gambling addiction. Gobbill can prevent such fraud says CEO and former school’s old boy.

March 7th, 2023 Posted by Business Management, Featured, Financial Management, Fraud Prevention, Payments 0 thoughts on “$430K stolen from Melbourne High School to feed a gambling addiction. Gobbill can prevent such fraud says CEO and former school’s old boy.”

A former business manager of Melbourne High School has been jailed after stealing more than $430,000 from her employer to feed an out-of-control gambling addiction.

Frances Walshe’s first theft in early 2012 went unnoticed by the school because of a poor financial governance model that gave the 65-year-old unchecked access to its bank accounts.

Over the following decade, Walshe made a further 263 illegal transactions, stealing $432,546 from the school’s coffers to feed an out-of-control gambling addiction.

Schools, clubs, not-for-profits and other organisations can’t rely on trusting one person who has banking access. For less than $50 per month, a subscription to Gobbill automates accounts payable saving time and costs. It reduces the need to access Internet Banking for making payments, and eliminates or reduces the risk of internal and external fraud.

Shendon Ewans – Gobbill CEO and a Melbourne High School ‘Old Boy’ says that this type of crime could have been prevented. For such a school where funds are so important and fundraising can be very difficult at times, it is disappointing for the school’s management to not have the proper check and balances.

Find out how Gobbill can protect your organisation – school, club or private business.

Contact Gobbill https://gobbill.com/contact/

Image Source: ABC News. Frances Walshe (right) has been sentenced to two years’ jail after stealing thousands of dollars from Melbourne High.(ABC News: Kristian Silva)

Read more from ABC News: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-06/melbourne-high-school-frances-walshe-business-manager-jailed/102057716

NDIS Fraud is costing billions yearly. CEO delivers insights at a fraud conference.

December 2nd, 2022 Posted by Fraud Prevention, NDIS, Payments 0 thoughts on “NDIS Fraud is costing billions yearly. CEO delivers insights at a fraud conference.”

CEO of Gobbill (& Aspect Plan Management), Shendon Ewans spoke about #NDIS fraud at the Transform Finance Conference (Anti-Money Laundering #AML, #Fraud, Technology Innovation & #Security) on the 1st of December 2022 Crowne Plaza Melbourne.

The topic covered “Insights Into the Extent of Fraud in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Costing Billions Yearly.”

The latest federal #budget2022 forecasts spending on the #NDIS could hit ~$100 billion per annum in a decade and is looking at a new Taskforce costing $126m over four years to tackle NDIS fraud.
• The NDIS costs the Federal Budget $27b (FY22) and it has allocated $38b for FY23.
• Fraud levels have been reported to be as high as 15-20% (~$5b) last year.
• Gobbill has been detecting and preventing #scams and #fraud for its NDIS clients and other vulnerable people over years.


Contact Gobbill to find out more.

Over $5Bn annually in NDIS could be fraud according to the Head of Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

August 15th, 2022 Posted by Aspect Plan Management, Fraud Prevention, NDIS, Payments 0 thoughts on “Over $5Bn annually in NDIS could be fraud according to the Head of Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.”

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission boss Michael Phelan claims that 15-20% (~$5Bn) annually in National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding could be fraud. In June 2022, the NDIS paid out $27Bn for the year. As tax payers, we expect the funding to support participants of the scheme who are the most vulnerable in our community.

Gobbill as a registered NDIS provider, supports thousands of participants, nominees and their providers by facilitating valid NDIS claims and payments. We use our technology to prevent and detect fraud – hence protecting the NDIS budgets of our clients with disabilities.

A joint investigation by 60 MINUTES, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, has found that the NDIS money has proven an irresistible magnet for criminals. It’s a sad reality of life that some truly awful people walk among us. However, the title of “most despicable” must surely go to members of the organised crime networks who have been targeting vulnerable Australians in order to rip off the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The NDIS is wanting to invest in an ability to detect, prevent and respond to fraud and non-compliant behaviour as the Scheme continues to grow.

Gobbill is an Australian FinTech company and registered NDIS Provider able to reduce fraud and waste. To find out more about Gobbill, contact us https://gobbill.com/contact/

To read more on Nine Network: https://9now.nine.com.au/60-minutes/organised-crime-networks-targeting-vulnerable-australians/aef7079e-a7e7-4106-82ed-08fdd0838f39

Image from 60 Minutes

Scammers strike record $851m with Victorians losing the most on Covid scams. Health/medical scams up 20x.

June 7th, 2021 Posted by Alerts, Fraud Prevention, Internet Safety, Staysmartonline 0 thoughts on “Scammers strike record $851m with Victorians losing the most on Covid scams. Health/medical scams up 20x.”

Australians lost over $851 million to scams in 2020, a record amount, as scammers took advantage of the pandemic to con unsuspecting people, according to the ACCC’s latest Targeting Scams report released today.

“Unfortunately scammers continue to become more sophisticated and last year used the COVID-19 pandemic to scam and take advantage of people from all walks of life during this crisis.” stated ACCC Deputy Chair. “Victoria, which was significantly impacted by the second wave of the virus, recorded the highest losses nationwide for the first time and Victorians reported $49 million in losses to Scamwatch, more than double those in 2019.”

Health and medical scams increased more than 20 fold compared to 2019, accounting for over $3.9 million in losses.

Phishing activity also thrived during the pandemic, especially through government impersonation scams. There were over 44,000 reports of phishing scams, representing a 75 per cent increase.  

Gobbill continues to protect small businesses and households from scams and fraud throughout Covid. Join Gobbill today to have the confidence that you have cyber protection from fraudsters.

Source ACCC June 2021 https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/news-alerts/scammers-capitalise-on-pandemic-as-australians-lose-record-851-million-to-scams

Tradies frustrated by banks as business email scam costs them $51,000

November 25th, 2020 Posted by Alerts, Internet Safety, Staysmartonline, Take Five to Stop Fraud 0 thoughts on “Tradies frustrated by banks as business email scam costs them $51,000”

Gobbill would have STOPPED this invoice fraud and saved Jane $51,000.

Can you spot a scam?

August 17th, 2020 Posted by Internet Safety, Payments, Staysmartonline, Uncategorized 0 thoughts on “Can you spot a scam?”

Welcome to the National Scams Awareness Week 2020! 

(Australia and New Zealand)

Gobbill has been a strong supporter in protecting people from against fraud and scams since 2015. We are proud to be a campaign partner for this year’s National Scams Awareness Week. 

Throughout this week, we will be raising awareness of scams and frauds. We will focus on Phishing and Email Compromise. These are two areas of scams that Gobbill has extensive experience in confronting.  

To kick off the week, we have posted a quiz titled Can you spot a scam?’ on our Instagram page.

If you are here to read the explanations, please keep reading.

If you have not done the quiz, hop off this page and come back to this page for the explanations. 

  1. Optus – This is a real email bill from Optus. Optus does send from cloudmails.net and they do personalised the email to the account holder.   
  2. ANZ –This is a Scam. The sender anzhost.org is fake and the email is not personalised. 
  3. DocuSign – This is a Scam. An email from DocuSign will have the sender’s email and details above the general text. Tricky one!   
  4. Xero – This is a real email and invoice. The email is from the correct sender and the email is correctly personalised to the recipient.  As a scammer, this would be one of the easiest to use; to change the link or attachment and have something quite malicious for the victim.

How did you go? Scam emails or texts can look extremely authentic and convincing through replicating legitimate messages from trusted senders. 

These scams often feature official looking logos and emails and a ‘call to action’ to open a malicious link or share personal information. That’s why Gobbill has developed automated checks of domains, links and much more over the last 5 years. Gobbill fetches and/or opens attachments safely so you don’t have to.  

We do this for all Australian billers including telcos, councils, utilities and many more. 

We process payments to over 40,000 billers with over 1m+ Australians already having access to Gobbill’s payment platform.

For more information, contact us at: https://gobbill.com/contact/ 

Tax time: Don’t fall for myGov related SMS and email scams says Australian Cyber Security Centre.

July 17th, 2020 Posted by Alerts, Internet Safety, Staysmartonline, Take Five to Stop Fraud 0 thoughts on “Tax time: Don’t fall for myGov related SMS and email scams says Australian Cyber Security Centre.”

The Australia taxation office has received reports that myGov related SMS and email scams are targeting Australians. The increased SMS and email scams coincide with tax time where millions of Australians are accessing and engaging with myGov services. 

What do the scams look like?  

These myGov related scams looks as if they have been sent from a myGov or ATO email address. Scammers utilise technology that allows emails to be sent in a similar way to conversation threads sent by myGov or ATO messaging.  

The call to action in the email is to click a link that asks for your personal details for ‘verification purposes.’ The official advice from ATO is ‘DON’T click any links’ and ‘DON’T provide the information requested.’ 

scam message

Example of a scam message from the Australia Cyber Security Centre. Source: https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/alerts/increasing-reports-mygov-related-sms-and-email-scams-targeting-australians 

How to protect yourself from myGov related scam: 

If a scam email or SMS is delivered to you, do not open the links or provide any personal details or information requested. 

Remember:

  • ATO will never send a message asking you to access their services via a URL.  
  • Sign in anytime to your myGov accounts to check updates on tax affairs 
  • For extra protection on your myGov account, enable two-factor authentication (2FA). This can be accessed by signing into your myGov account and turning the feature on in ‘Account settings’ 
  • If you see a suspicious myGov email or SMS with a URL, email: [email protected]
  • If you have clicked a link on a myGov email or SMS and entered your details, contact: Services Australia on 1800 941 126. 

For more information visit: https://www.cyber.gov.au/

Eight in ten feel embarrassed to admit they fell for a scam.

June 25th, 2020 Posted by Internet Safety, Take Five to Stop Fraud, United Kingdom 0 thoughts on “Eight in ten feel embarrassed to admit they fell for a scam.”

New research from the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign by UK Finance has revealed eight in ten (80 per cent) people in UK would feel embarrassed if they fell for a financial scam.

Reported Covid-19 scams have now reached $700,000 with a spike in puppy scams

May 19th, 2020 Posted by Uncategorized 0 thoughts on “Reported Covid-19 scams have now reached $700,000 with a spike in puppy scams”

Scamwatch reports 2,000 COVID19 scams with losses now more than $700,000. This is only the reported figure with unreported figures accounted for.

There has been also a spike in ‘puppy scams’ during coronavirus lockdown reaching $360,000. “A lot of people are stuck at home and going online to buy a pet to help them get through the loneliness of social isolation,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said. “Unfortunately the rush to get a new pet and the unusual circumstances of COVID-19 makes it harder to work out what’s real or a scam.”


COVID-19 has been a hot bed for fraudulent activity with scammers targeting those in search of a furry companion reports 9News.


Don’t get done by those puppy eyes…
For more information, visit ACCC’s report.

Gobbill is a partner of StaySmartOnline since 2015, a cybersafety initiative of ACCC Consumer Rights.