Consumer scams in Australia: an overview.

As part of a global effort to fight mass-marketed consumer frauds and scams, consumer protection agencies in a number of western countries participate in a month of fraud prevention activities each year to raise awareness of the problem and provide advice to consumers on how to avoid being victimised. An initiative of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network in 2000, the campaign is joined by more countries each year, and in March 2006 some 33 countries participated. In Australia and New Zealand, 18 government agencies comprise the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT), established in March 2005 to support the network's activities. The key message to consumers in 2006 was 'when a scam comes calling -- delete it, hang up, destroy it'. This emphasised the fact that consumers are their own best defence against scams, and should always err on the side of caution when conducting business transactions. This paper presents the results of a pilot study undertaken during March 2006 in which consumers who contacted the Infoline at www.scamwatch.gov.au, agreed to provide information on their experiences of consumer fraud over the preceding year. To date there has been limited statistical data to inform the development of policy in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]