NCJ Number
217903
Date Published
February 2007
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper presents the findings of a pilot study undertaken in Australia during March 2006, in which consumers who contacted a designated government Web site agreed to provide information on their experiences of consumer fraud during the preceding year.
Abstract
The most common scam offer was related to lotteries (67 respondents), with most of the offers being received in the mail (34), followed by e-mail (26). Requests to transfer money were received by 32 respondents. Twenty-eight respondents received fraudulent requests for their banking information. Twenty-three respondents received offers of financial advice. The aforementioned responses were received from a question that asked respondents whether they had received an unsolicited notification of having won a lottery, request to transfer money, a request for banking information, an offer of financial advice, or other scam offers. The method of contact was also requested. The majority of the respondents indicated they had not reported these unsolicited invitations to any authority or regulatory body. Just over 80 percent of the respondents in all categories of scams, except "other scam offers," had not responded to any of the requests. Approximately 13 percent of the people who had received lottery offers replied once, with a further 8 percent responding on more occasions. Recipients of requests for money transfers, bank requests, and financial advice did not respond to the offers at levels of 95 percent, 96, percent, and 97 percent, respectively. Other scam offers (n=10)--which included competitions, holiday offers, and business opportunities--had a 50-percent nonresponse rate. 2 figures, 3 tables, and 14 references