Page 64 - Print 21 Magazine Sep-Oct 2021

Associations
Scamming and the role of print media
Sam Upton, Soul Content and TRMC content writer, says print prevails when security matters, with trust the key factor it has over digital.
Digital scams are currently costing Australian businesses $18m per year, and rising. So how can you and your customers retain trust in media and what can print do to help?
Before we begin, take a
quick look at your spam folder.
If you haven’t cleared it out
this morning, it’s highly likely there will be at least two scam emails. And if you’re a company directororworkinthefi ance department, we’d be staggered if there isn’t ten times that amount.
While the pandemic has shifted a number of positive digital trends and technologies from occasional use to commonplace, it’s also boosted some of the negative. A recent report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found that Australians have lost over $851m to scams in 2020. Based
on data from Scamwatch, other government agencies, and banks and fi ancial intermediaries, that figure includes $328m lost through investment scams, $131m from romance scams, and $128m through payment redirection scams.
For the majority of companies and businesses, it’s that fi al figure that raises the most alarm. Of that $128m, Australian businesses lost $18m to scams in 2020, which represents a 260 per cent increase on losses reported in 2019.
“Last year, scam victims reported the biggest losses we have seen, but worse, we expect the real losses will be even higher, as many people don’t report these scams,” said ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard.
“Unfortunately, scammers continue to become more sophisticated and last year used the Covid-19 pandemic to scam and take advantage of people from all walks of life during this crisis.”
A perfect storm
for scams
It’s no secret that scammers prey on the vulnerable and thrive during a crisis, and the Covid pandemic has created the ideal conditions for them to flourish. For businesses, the chaos of lockdowns, staffs ortages,supplychain problems, and continual changes in legislation and guidelines has given the green light to digital-savvy criminals intent on syphoning off ash from company accounts.
According to Scamwatch data, false billing was the
most common con, accounting for over 75 per cent of total business loss. Bearing the brunt of these scams were small and micro businesses, making up
60 per cent of the companies involved, with payment redirection top of the list for false billing scamming methods.
Also known as business email compromise (BEC), payment redirection scams involve the impersonation of a business or its employees in an email that requests an upcoming payment be redirected to a fraudulent account. These resulted in $14m in losses – up from $5m the previous year. Other types of scams to look out for include health and medical products, investment, online shopping and classified.
Trust in the traditional
For those unfortunate companies that have fallen
prey to a sophisticated scam,
it’s disastrous, not only
for the bottom line but for business confidence. For those businesses – and let’s not forget consumers – that have escaped being scammed, either through diligent digital practices or blind
64 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021