By Callum Ludwig
Scams plague the internet, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics finding that 552,000 people experienced a scam from 2021-22, and Facebook groups awash with fake profiles trying to con users.
With support from Yarra Ranges Council and Eastern Regional Libraries, Warburton Online has been hosting tech and Tea sessions to help keep local residents cyber-safe, particularly when buying and selling online.
President of Warburton Online Lisa Markby said knowing how to access the internet safely is extremely important, especially for older parts of the community.
“We’ve had two sessions so far, one about scams and the other about techniques about how to be safe when buying online, which were talks from the library tech staff,” she said.
“We have ten computers ready to go, and our next sessions will be hands-on at the computers practising how to list something for sale online.”
Samers online are only getting harder to detect, with Facebook groups and Facebook Marketplace a common hunting ground. Accounts will join groups and post scam ads or services or tell sad tales of lost or injured animals and property among others.
Ms Markby said many people just need reassurance and to learn because they don’t know what they are doing.
“Being able to come together and discuss it gives people a lot more confidence in what’s happening, and at the first session a few shared stories of being scammed,” she said.
“The most common scams in Australia include dating and romance, fake penalties, unexpected money and lottery wins, phishing and online shopping, it’s quite an extensive list.”
Scammers often try tricks to connive people into buying into their scams, such as getting people to share posts before editing them to include links to scam sites or asking for card transactions when making an online sale or purchase so they can gain access to bank account information.
The next Warburton Online Tech and Tea session is on Wednesday 29 March from 11am, underneath the Mechanics Hall in Warburton.
