Beware of messages from strangers trying to start a conversation or entice you into a relationship – it may be a scam.
As part of Scams Awareness Week, the ACMA is warning people to be on the lookout for romance and relationship scam messages as scammers continue to target people by initiating contact to build a connection.
Scammers will contact people via different channels, including Instant Message on social media, WhatsApp, email and SMS. They will then try and develop a relationship with you over time, pretending to be romantically or otherwise interested in you to gain your trust. These scams are designed to get you to provide money or personal information.
What to look out for
Keep an eye out for these signs of a romance or relationship scam:
- A stranger tries to connect with you – they may send you a message that seems like an accident but then introduce themselves and try to start a conversation.
- The contact becomes frequent and intimate – the scammer may contact you multiple times a day and express strong feelings. They may ask you to provide personal or intimate images that may be later used to coerce you into paying them money.
- They ask you to send or invest money – the scammer may claim that they need money due to an emergency or try to convince you to invest to make easy money.
- They try to get you to click on a link to connect with them – these links will often have unusual or unfamiliar domain names and may lead to a fake website or contain malware designed to help steal your personal or financial details.
How to protect yourself
If you are unsure if a message or call is genuine – stop and check. Don’t rush to act:
- Do not give your personal information or send money to someone you haven’t met in person and don’t know.
- Do not click on any links in emails or texts. These may contain malware or may be phishing scams designed to steal your personal or financial details.
- Check in with family members and/or friends you trust to talk about any online request for money.
If you think you’ve been scammed, contact your bank immediately to stop any payments and tell your telco.
Scammers are criminals, and they target everyone.
Help other Australians by reporting scams to Scamwatch. Scammers want you to hide or deny your experiences. Reporting scams and talking about scam experiences not only helps you to understand what happened but informs authorities about scammer activities so that they can make it harder for scams to occur.
The more we talk, the less power they have.
Get informed:
- ACMA’s tips for dealing with phone scams.
- Scamwatch’s advice about protecting yourself.
- IDCARE can help if your identity has been compromised or stolen. Call 1800 595 160 or visit www.idcare.org.
- Use our phone scam educational materials, which include posters in English, 10 other languages and for First Nations Australians, and graphics for social media.
The ACMA supports the government’s Fighting Scams initiative to address scams and online fraud and protect Australians from financial harm. It supports the work of the National Anti-Scam Centre, which coordinates government, law enforcement and the private sector to combat scams.