Police have issued a warning to consumers after an Australia-wide scam involving stolen identities was traced to Laverton.
Senior Constable Matt Wright of the Hobsons Bay crime investigation unit warned people not to send any form of identification to sellers when buying items through social media platforms or online marketplaces.
“Scammers are creating fake profiles and advertising items for sale, usually at a reduced price, to entice people to start communication with them,” he said.
“If the buyer or the victim doesn’t want to pay for the item until they receive it in the post, the scammer’s requesting them to send identification documents, such as passport and licence, to confirm who they are.
“If they send their identification documents it’s likely they’re then blocked.
“The victim thinks nothing of it – they didn’t lose any money – but what happens is the scammer is then somehow, using those identification documents to open up bank accounts … and then they go on to then scam other people into transferring funds into those fake accounts.
“If the victim’s happy to transfer money to buy the item … the victim will transfer money into that account and then they’ll be blocked,” Senior Constable Wright said.
Hobsons Bay detectives were notified of the scam after several reports were made to ACORN (Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network), which was replaced by the Cyber Issue Reporting System on June 30.
“Police were advised of one of the scams as the bank account details were coming up to somebody who lived in Laverton. Inquiries that we made with that person revealed that they themselves were the victim of a scam and had sent their identification documents when they had tried to purchase something online,” Senior Constable Wright said.
“The victim from Laverton was trying to purchase a camera from somebody based in Queensland and when he went to purchase that he sent his identification documents.
“Further checks on another victim from Queensland revealed that he’d already paid money after the fact into that bank account that was created in the Laverton victim’s name.
“So, it’s like a big family tree of scams.”
Anyone who thinks they have been scammed should make a report to Consumer Affairs Victoria at consumer.vic.gov.au/scamsavvy.
For more information on scams, visit www.police.vic.gov.au/fraud.
