General News
20 February, 2026
Be aware of scams
POLICE are calling for residents to take care with their personal information as scam reports increase.
Camperdown Police Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew Raven said people were losing significant amounts of money through scams, urging the community to be cautious.
“Unless they’re sure they know who they’re talking to, they should not give out their personal information,” he said.
“There’s significant amounts of money being transferred from people, and it is almost impossible to recover that money.
“Romance scams happen particularly on dating sites – people have fallen in love with a Nigerian prince or something like that, and they ask for money.
“This happens over a period of time where they gain trust and convince their target to transfer money, so they can come over to Australia.”
Data from ScamWatch showed 641 romance scams were reported in Victoria last year, equating to $6,245,130.58 in losses.
Warning signs of a romance scam include ‘lovebombing’ and a relationship which progresses quickly, saying they need money urgently due to an emergency, giving excuses as to why you can’t meet in person or over video chat and threats and anger over questions or not doing as they ask.
Act Snr Sgt Raven said another common scam was the remote access scam.
“Someone will be on their computer and a pop-up icon will appear on their screen,” he said.
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“We want to make sure people are mindful of not clicking on links if they’re not sure where they come from or providing their personal details and bank account details.”
ScamWatch statistics show 852 remote access scams were reported in Victoria last year, with losses of $902,976.74.
Warning signs of remote access scams include an unexpected phone call or email stating you have a computer or internet issue and you need to provide remote access to fix the issue, suddenly being unable to log into your device or accounts and changes in homescreen layout such as loss of files or new icons appearing.
Act Snr Sgt Raven also warned of scammers impersonating Australia Post as a phishing scam.
“There will be a text message purporting to be from Australia Post saying a parcel was not deliverable and asking the target to click on a link,” he said.
“A lot of these links are scams, and they get into our personal information.”
Phishing scams cost Victorians $4,939,386.76 last year, with 15,886 reports made to ScamWatch.
Signs it might be a scam include communication from a business asking to update or verify details urgently, the message does not use a resident’s proper name and the sender’s details do not match the business it claims to be from.
For more information or to report a scam, visit www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam.
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