Aussies being targeted by delivery scams

Three-quarters of Australians have been the target of delivery scams, according to the latest research from Australia Post.

About 25 per cent of those who received a fake delivery or package message from scammers, unwillingly become the victim of identity theft or suffered a financial loss of up to $20,000.

More than half of those people initially thought the fake delivery message was legitimate and pursued it before realising the content was fraudulent.

The research also found 80 per cent of Aussies received between one to 10 scam texts or calls every week, and 15 per cent received 16 or more scam emails.

Australia Post has urged people to protect themselves from scams as they become more prevalent and convincing.

Australia Post’s group chief executive Paul Graham said Australians were losing billions of dollars to scams each year.

“Scam attempts are becoming more sophisticated, frequent and increasingly harder to detect and our latest research reveals that most of us have already been targeted,” he said.

“With many people being bombarded with fake texts, emails and calls the best way for customers to stay safe from scams is by using the free AusPost app, which tracks deliveries securely.”

Australia Post’s new research follows the latest report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC),

The ACCC report revealed Australians lost $2.74b in 2023 and made more than 601,000 scam reports, an increase of 18.5 per cent from 2022.