12 scams of Christmas: Impersonation scams

With the festive season nearly upon us, ’tis the season for online scams.

The Financial and Cyber Crime Group are reminding Queenslanders to be aware of Grinch-like scammers and be sure to stay alert to scams, such as impersonation scams.

Police are continuing to receive reports about government impersonation scams, with the main ones doing the rounds being phishing scams and fake government department threats.

Scammers may pretend to be from the Australian Taxation Office or even police.

As we’ve said before, know that police will not contact you threatening immediate arrest or asking for payment.

“We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again and again: no government agency will ask you to pay anything by gift card or cryptocurrency,” Detective Inspector Vince Byrnes from the Financial and Cyber Crime Group said.

Police issue warning following QPS phone numbers used in scams

If you are unsure if the person you are dealing with is a police officer, you can request their name, rank and registered number and then contact Policelink on 131 444 to verify their identity.

For information on fake websites, phishing scams, parcel delivery scams, fake seller/buyer scams, puppy scams, free gift cards and holiday scams, click on the links below:

The 12 scams of Christmas: Fake websites

The 12 scams of Christmas: Phishing scams

The 12 scams of Christmas: Parcel delivery scams

The 12 scams of Christmas: Fake online sellers

The 12 scams of Christmas: Fake online buyers

The 12 scams of Christmas: Puppy scams

The 12 scams of Christmas: Gift card scams

The 12 scams of Christmas: Holiday scams

To learn more about scams, visit www.scamwatch.gov.au or the Queensland Police Service’s R U in Control campaign at www.police.qld.gov.au/safety-and-preventing-crime/r-u-in-control.

If you have information for police, contact Policelink by providing information using the online suspicious activity form 24hrs per day at www.police.qld.gov.au/reporting.

You can report information about crime anonymously to Crime Stoppers, a registered charity and community volunteer organisation, via crimestoppersqld.com.au 24hrs per day.

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