Senior Constable Steve Cherry visited the Rotary Club of Laurieton on Monday, August 13 to speak to members about the prevalence of scamming, particularly in the digital age. 

A woman from Kempsey, Senior Constable Cherry said, was recently contacted by a friend via Facebook, unaware that her friend’s profile had been hacked by a scammer. 

The scammer asked the woman for money under the pretense that her friend was in trouble. 

The woman went to Coles and got the money in the form of vouchers. 

She said the people at Coles were concerned, and asked her if she was being scammed. 

The woman called her friend to check if she was in trouble and discovered her friend didn’t know anything about it. 

Senior Constable Cherry said it was lucky the woman checked with her friend before going any further with the scammer’s demands. 

Throughout the presentation on August 13, rotarians received advice on how to avoid being scammed. 

“Scams are constantly evolving and scammers can go to great lengths to cause people to part with money or information,” Senior Constable Cherry said.

“Scammers might pretend to be from your bank or a service provider, offer sports betting or short term investment opportunities.

“They can claim the ability to return owed monies from overseas, often romance and dating opportunities plus numerous other approaches.

“On the surface these may appear to be genuine.”

Senior Constable Cherry said the old adage of ‘if it’s too good to be true it usually is’, applies to today. 

“If you receive an email which you aren’t quite sure about, consult with someone you trust and more often than not your initial suspicions will be well founded,” he said. 

A spokesperson from the Rotary Club of Laurieton thanked Senior Constable Cherry for providing members with a greater understanding of the scale and complexity of scamming and how best to avoid becoming a victim.

For more information or advice please visit www.police.nsw.gov.au