More than 20 per cent of scams reported to Consumer Affairs Victoria in 2010-11 were ‘reclaim’ or ‘overpayment’ scams.
This is when a scammer, pretending to be a government or financial institution, unexpectedly contacts a consumer about supposed overpayment of tax, bills, bank fees or other payments. They also sometimes pretend to be a legal firm or government agency, such as the Australian Taxation Office.
The scammer tries to trick the person into sending money or revealing information such as bank account details in order to ‘reclaim’ the overpayment (which doesn’t really exist). Often, they ask for the money as an ‘administration fee’.
Government departments, banks and private law firms do not call or email to check personal information. They do not ask for administration or other fees to claim owed money over the phone or by email.
Tips:
- Hang up on cold-callers who ask you to pay fees to reclaim money that they claim to owe you.
- Never respond immediately to unsolicited offers or deals.
- Independently check any offer is genuine with your bank or other institution.
- Never provide personal details or transfer money to a company or person you do not know and trust.
To report a scam, view our Dob in a scam page.
Become more scam-savvy by taking our online scams quiz.
Consumer Affairs Victoria received 6778 reports of scams in 2010-11.