Our cousins across the ditch have been fooled and bamboozledby online scammers quite a lot recently, according to a survey done byAustralia’s consumer watchdog.

During 2009, losses reported to the Australian Competitionand Consumer Commission through scams totalled almost $70 million. They includeadvance fee/up-front payment (Nigerian style) scams, dating and romance,lottery and sweepstakes, and unexpected prize scams.

"Scams continue to make up a large proportion of totalcomplaints that the ACCC receives and more than 20,000 scam reports were madeto the ACCC in 2009 – a 16% increase compared with 2008," deputy chairPeter Kell said. "Realistically, this figure is likely to be the tip ofthe iceberg – given people can be embarrassed about reporting that they havefallen victim to scams and lost money in the process."

The ACCC has seen very significant increases in reporting ofcertain types of scams. "The ACCC recorded an increase of over 100% inreports about online shopping scams during 2009, compared to 2008," Kellsaid. Last year also saw large increases in the reporting of false billingscams and banking and online scams – up nearly 60 and 40% respectively in 2009.

"More than 54% of the scam reports received by the ACCCconcerned mass marketed advance fee fraud, making this the most complained aboutscam category in 2009," Kell said.

Targeting scams – Report of the ACCC on scam activity2009 notes that the dominance of onlinescams. "Nearly 70% of consumers that contacted the ACCC about scams during2009 said they were contacted by scammers via the Internet," Kell said. Accordingto the new ACCC report, scammers continue to target individuals regardless ofage, gender, education or income level.