Online scams surge during the pandemic

Lock with credit cards and wallet on a laptop

As Australia continues to experience lockdowns across the country, households are increasing their online footprint - spending more time online and shifting towards online shopping for both essential and non-essential items. Online scammers have taken advantage of the pandemic with increased online activity, and have been fine-tuning their strategies to deceive more unsuspecting people.

Scams are increasing in sophistication

In the past year, we have seen a wide range of online scams, ranging from Instagram competitions, to bitcoin scams, to online dating scams and many more. Scammers are continuing to refine the sophistication of their scams, and are coming up with new methods to monetise on the significant online shift seen during the pandemic. Scamwatch, a division of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), reported that the top scams by loss in 2020 were:

$61.8 million: Investment scams
$28.6 million: Dating & romance
$10.1 million: False billing
$5.1 million: Hacking
$4.8 million: Online shopping scams
$4.8 million: Remote access scams
$4.3 million: Identity theft
$4.3 million: Threats to life, arrest or other
$2.8 million: Classified scams
$2.6 million: Inheritance scams¹

‘Flubot’ malware scam evolves to target parcel tracking

Most recently, the masterminds behind the infamous ‘Flubot’ scam text messages which aim to install malware on the phones of unsuspecting individuals, have changed their strategy in a ploy to trick even more people during lockdown. Users are sent a text message informing them that their parcel is due for delivery, and conned into clicking a link to ‘track’ their delivery.

Source: Scamwatch

Once a user clicks on the link, it takes them to an app called ‘Voicemail71’. As soon as this is downloaded, their Android phone is infected. Not only will the scammer be able to watch them type in their passwords, they can also obtain all personal information from within the user’s device.

The impacts of the ‘Flubot’ scam have been substantial, with the ACCC having received 8400 reports of this scam and over $9000 in reported loss as of 31^st August 2021².

Looking ahead – how to protect yourself from online scams?

Online scams can be difficult to spot and according to the ACCC’s latest figures, Australians lost over $851 million in combined financial losses to scams in 2020³, which is a $217 million increase on 2019’s statistics⁴.

As these scams continue to increase in frequency and sophistication, it is likely that you or someone you know has been targeted, or even fallen victim to an online scam. The malware from online scams, like Flubot, can be incredibly complex to remove. If you suspect you have downloaded malware from these scams, it is important to act immediately. You should seek assistance from an IT professional to wipe the virus, download an antivirus and/or conduct a factory reset.

To better prevent falling victim to such attacks in the future, education is paramount. More often than not, individuals and businesses of all sizes are being targeted and one way to assist prevention is to shine a light on those vulnerabilities to better prepare for them. Human error dominates the latest data breach statistics⁵so both individuals and businesses need to take a step back and focus on internal education before moving on to assess the risk.

Protecting your organisation from evolving cyber risks

As the dynamic risk landscape of the cyber and technology sectors continue to change, so have the scope of services available to both individuals and businesses. The Australian Federal Government have agreed to invest $1.35 billion over the next decade to enhance the cyber security capabilities provided to Australians⁶. Marsh offer a range of services to our clients, from the placement of cyber insurance to the quantification of cyber risk and how this could directly impact you or your business.

To further understand your organisation’s cyber exposures and which potential risk management and insurance solutions may assist, please contact your Marsh representative or contact us here.

This document is not intended to be taken as advice regarding any individual situation and should not be relied upon as such. The information contained herein is based on sources we believe reliable, but we make no representation or warranty as to its accuracy. Marsh shall have no obligation to update this publication and shall have no liability to you or any other party arising out of this publication or any matter contained herein.

¹ https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/scam-statistics/targeting-scams

² https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/accc-warns-australian-online-shoppers-of-flubot-parcel-tracking-scam/news-story/e94a0949311488fcfabc0c6d49b984eb

³ https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/scam-statistics/targeting-scams

⁴https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/news-alerts/scams-cost-australians-over-630-million

⁵ https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/news-and-media/human-factor-dominates-latest-data-breach-statistics/

⁶ https://www.pm.gov.au/media/nations-largest-ever-investment-cyber-security

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