Media

SCAMAssist's Head of Fraud Simon Smith regularly assists the Australian public in relation to cybercrime intelligence and online scam awareness. Please see below a list of some recent articles or television media:

• See SCAMAssist's Simon Smith helping the 7NEWS Spotlight team to stop a real cyber scam in action.
  
  


• Australians lose record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, as ACCC calls for tougher measures
  
  • Watch interview  Bank transfers were the most common way scam victims parted with their cash in 2022, the report said.
    
    The ACCC said Australia should explore measures such as the United Kingdom's Confirmation of Payee regulation, which was introduced in 2019 and now covers most banks in the country.
    
    Under the rules, banks are required to help customers double-check they are sending money to the right person by displaying a warning if the account details do not match up.
    
    Cyber security expert and victim advocate Simon Smith said payee confirmation laws could have prevented thousands of scams from succeeding in Australia.
    
    "In a modern country like Australia... it should have been done decades ago," he said.
    
    "It would have solved probably half the cases I deal with, because the bank would say, 'You're not really paying Auntie Jane,' or, 'You're not really paying this business, you're actually paying some other business.'"
    
    Mr Smith also said banks could take more steps to educate customers before proceeding with transfers that looked suspicious.


• Brushing' scams send people free items, but could be a warning sign about a data breach
  
  • Mr Smith's work often deals with complex criminal cases with serious consequences for the victims. He said if people received an item as part of an apparent brushing scam, there was no need to panic. But, he said, it could be a warning sign.
    
    "I think back a few years ago, it probably was more innocent, in the sense that it was just about reviews," Mr Smith said.
    
    "But I would be considering it a lot more serious now, considering the fraud potential, and especially the money-laundering issues that are going on and the scams that are going on at the moment.
    
    "People could actually have their identity and their names being used for crimes they didn't commit.".


• QRCode scams targeting diners
  
  • Next time you go out to dinner, and are asked to scan a QR Code, think twice! Simon Smith spoke with Channel 7's Sonia Marinelli about how QR Codes can be used to aid a scam, especially when you are scanning via your standard phone camera.
    
    "Criminals are stealing money and data by hijacking the QR code scheme used to order and pay for food".


• Sydney 'pig butchering' victim loses $46K in search for love on Tinder
  
  • Australian cybercrime expert Simon Smith, from the Online Crime Action Centre, said he had worked with many local victims of pig butchering scams, with some losing up to $850,000.
    
    "They are very elaborate and relentless, the scammers keep going until they have taken their victim's last cent, and then some," Smith said.


• John and Patricia thought they were helping their daughter in a crisis. They were actually being scammed
  
  • Cybercrime expert Simon Smith said dealing with scams was becoming a daily occurrence for Australians. "It's almost like it's a way of life at the moment, it's gotten worse actually," Mr Smith said.


• New security number to be introduced for all Victorian driver licences after recent cyber attacks
  
  • Cybersecurity expert Simon Smith said this was "not good enough" and all licences needed to be moved to the new system.
    
    He said some Victorians would be waiting 10 years, as this is the maximum time a licence is valid.
    
    "For the system to have any purpose, there needs to be both replacement of all Victorian licences by a set date and centralised enforcement, protection and validation of the verification data on an ongoing basis," he said.


• Phishing fraudsters used SIM box to fleece hundreds of victims, police allege
  
  • Cybercrime expert Simon Smith said large-scale SIM boxes were "quite alarming", in that "it's very easy to get a temporary throw-away SIM or a hundred" and write a few lines of code to generate a swath of phone numbers for the device to target.


• NSW widow loses $750,000 to sophisticated scam
  
  • Simon Smith, an Australian cyber expert and investigator, is assisting Michelle with her AFCA and cybercrime complaint and told news.com.au: "I am confident the bank will step up, learn from this case, better their processes and recognise the importance and responsibility they owe to their customers and all Australians".


• Travel agent 'could have scammed more than $500k' from bookings
  
  • Cyber security expert Simon Smith estimates the man running the company, Lance Martin, could have scammed Australians out of more than half a million dollars. "I personally have spoken to about 50 people and I'd say there would be more" he told A Current Affair.


• Online dating scam victims hire hackers, private investigators to fight back
  
  • Private investigator Simon Smith, who was hired by Mr Prescott, said the information he gathered would go a long way to helping Australian and international police to identify the scammers.

For all media enquires, or to interview Mr. Smith please send an email to [email protected].

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