POLICE are warning the Logan community to be wary after a resident spent $3500 on gift vouchers at the request of a phone scammer.
Senior constable Jenny Wallis said the Logan victim was contacted by a person who claimed to work for the Australian Tax Office (ATO) on Thursday, January 3.
The victim was told he owed the ATO money and purchased $3500 worth of gift vouchers and read the card serial numbers to the scammer.
Senior constable Wallis said this tactic was becoming more common.
“Unfortunately, this is not a one off, on November 7, 2018 another victim was contacted by a phone scammer and the victim ended up purchasing $5000 worth of gift cards,” she said.
“Although it’s a strange request to have payments be made in the form of gift cards, the callers are very convincing and use fear to achieve their outcome.
“They sometimes make threats stating they are tracking the victim and or the victim will be arrested if they don’t make payment.
“Police would like to take this moment to re-enforce that the ATO and other government bodies will never request payment in the form of gift cards.”
ScamWatch data for November 2018 revealed 24,147 scam reports were made and $7,800,885 was lost in just one month.
Anyone affected by online cyber-crime can report the incident to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN).
If you have information which can assist police contact Policelink 131 444 or Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.
