The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sent out 1500 letters to people in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in an attempt to stop them sending more money to scammers overseas.
Feelings of shame and despair at being conned out of $300,000 by a convincing Nigerian based email scam led Queensland interior decorator Jill Ambrose to attempt suicide twice.
A Nigerian man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for sending out fraudulent e-mails offering victims big bucks in exchange for moving cash to the United States.
Perpetrators of Nigerian scams have turned West Australian government agency, ScamNet, against itself, impersonating the department to fleece $9000 from an unknown West Australian woman. This is the second time that hoaxers have impersonated a West Australian government agency, the first occurring when [[artnid:328180|they impersonated the WA Police in December 2009|WA Police leveraged in PayPal email scam]].
Australians lost more than $70 million through online scams last year, according to a Federal Government report.
Scammers are trawling Facebook for victims using a convincing twist on the notorious 'Nigerian 419' scam.