Aussies Lose Millions In Foreign Scams

By Neville D'Cruz MELBOURNE, Australia, July 10 (Bernama) –- Over 2,600 Australians have fallen victims to foreign scams, mainly from Asia, losing over A$113 million between 2007 and April this year, a report by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and the Australian Institute of Criminology says. The report said A$113 million was considered to be a conservative figure because many people were too embarrassed to report it. The massive scale of the fraud has prompted a new campaign warning households not to trust any unsolicited telephone calls offering investment opportunities, even if the firm calling offered websites and articles to back up their claims. ACC chief executive John Lawler said scams were growing an alarming scale. "These are sophisticated organisations, backed with many millions of dollars. These operations sometimes set up in multiple jurisdictions that actually have teams of people whose sole purpose is to set up bank accounts and to set up financial structures to route the money," he said at the launch of the report here Monday. Lawler said the groups were mainly based in Asia, but spread their financial networks widely into Europe, the Caribbean and other places. The ACC and Australia Post will send letters to every Australian household over the next two months to warn them of the dangers of investment fraud. The report found scammers were increasingly targeting educated men of retirement age who had previously made other investments and were considered "financially literate". Their personal details were taken from competition and promotional forms, social networking websites and brokerage lists before the victims received a "cold call" asking them to buy non-existent or worthless shares and securities. -- BERNAMA