South West Police and Consumer Protection are cracking down on scams and scammers.
Senior Constable Neale Horsley and Consumer Protection - Department of Mines, Industry Regulation, and Safety regional coordinator: South West Annetta Bellingeri will lead two free information sessions later this month.
One session will be held at the Dalyellup Community Centre from 3.30pm on February 19, while the other will take place at Capel Library from 9.30am on February 27.
Ms Bellingeri said the sessions would help people to identify and report scams.
“We can explain how all of those scams work. We’ll also run through some of the common scams going around at the moment,” she said.
“We’ll be giving people lots of tips on how they can be better protected.”
Ms Bellingeri said scammers “do not discriminate”.
“In the South West, they get reported to us regularly and we also deal with scam victims,” she said.
“We have dealt with scam victims who’ve recently lost significant amounts of money to different scams.
“Sometimes, we talk to people who are concerned that someone they know may be the victim of a scam.”
Ms Bellingeri said there were many ways to avoid scammers.
“Scammers are very good at using psychological tricks to get people to act in certain ways,” she said.
“Do not act quickly, and don’t click on links in emails or text messages – contact Consumer Protection and we can explain to you whether something is or isn’t a scam.”
January saw 86 victims in Western Australia lose a total of $1.81 million.
A 65-year-old lost $468,500 to a romance scam, while a Kalgoorlie woman lost $308,442 to an investment scam.
According to the 2018 Annual Scam Report, 569 victims lost a total of $10.7 million last year.
To RSVP for either information session, phone 9727 0222 or email dsims@capel.wa.gov.au
Visit scamwatch.gov.au to find out more information about scams.
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