What can you do after experiencing a scam?

Estimated reading time
  6 min

In this article

• How to tell if you’ve been scammed
• How to protect yourself from follow-up scams
• Why we tend to trust scammers
• What you can do if you’ve been scammed

Whether it’s a text from ‘mum’ or an unexpected email from a dating website, scams are becoming more sophisticated, making it harder to tell what’s real and what’s fake.

According to Scamwatch, Aussies lost over $476 million due to scams in 2023. If you’ve fallen victim to a scammer and lost money in the process, then it can feel difficult to recover emotionally and financially. Here are some tips on how you can get back on your feet with your life and money after experiencing a scam.

How to tell if you’ve been scammed

There are some big red flags that might indicate you’re experiencing a scam, some of which include:

• You receive an unexpected call, message or email that has prompted you to share your banking and personal information. This includes receiving a link from someone posing as a trusted company for you to share this information.
• You notice unusual transactions on your bank or credit card statements that you didn’t make or don’t remember making.
• There are applications for benefits and supports in your name that someone (who isn’t you) is claiming. 
• You receive a bill or invoice for a purchase you don’t remember making or recognise. 
• A parcel that you were expecting to receive hasn’t arrived.

What to do if you you’ve been scammed

Scams can happen to anyone – even the most tech savvy of people. If you think or know that you’ve been scammed, here are some steps you can take to minimise the effect it’ll have on your finances:

• Contact your bank to report the scam and to stop or cancel any transactions the cybercriminal might’ve made. Also ask your bank to freeze your accounts and transactions if you notice any unauthorised transfers. 
• Update the security on all your devices and scan for viruses. Remove anything that’s flagged as a problem and reset or change any passwords you have. 
• Be on the lookout for any follow-up scams. Chances are once a scammer has taken some of your money, they’ll try and target you again. 
• If you’re wondering where to report scams, then Scamwatch is a good starting point. You can also report the scam to the platform the person contacted you on.
• If the scammer impersonated a business or organisation, then contact them and the fair-trading organisation in your state or territory.
• Contact the Australian cyber security hotline on 1300 CYBER1 (or 1300 292 371) if you need more guidance on how to handle scams. 
• If the scam has caused you problems with debt or your finances in general, you can talk to a free financial counsellor for support. 
• You can also get support for your mental health and wellbeing if you experienced a scam by contacting IDCare.

Why do we trust scammers who impersonate other organisations?

Picture this: You’re out for a walk and get a random text from your bank. They need you to click on a link they’ve included in the message so you can update your personal information. The text stresses that it’s really important you do this now, otherwise you might get locked out of your account. And because you trust the source – your bank – and you’ve had positive experiences with them before, you click on the link and enter your information on a website that looks like your bank. Then within a few days, some of your money is gone because of the scammer.

Acting on that feeling of trust and clicking the link is called the halo effect. This is where our impression of a person or organisation will influence our assumptions and actions without studying the finer details. 

To avoid the halo effect (and future scams!) it’s important that you check and double check where the information is coming from and who’s sending it. If it’s a message from your ‘bank’, think about how they have communicated to you in the past and see if it matches. Or better yet, familiarise yourself with the common scam signs so you can protect your personal information and your wallet.

How to protect yourself from scams in the future

The thought of losing money to another scam is daunting. While cybercriminals might try and target you again, you can have the upper hand this time around by following these cyber-safety tips:

• Enable multifactor authentication on all your accounts and devices. It’s also smart to update and change all your passwords.
• If they initiate contact with you again, don’t respond. But if you get a message from a different source, verify it. For example, call your bank directly to ask if they sent out the text or email you got that day – they can confirm it for you on the spot. 
• Monitor your bank transactions, credit cards and online accounts for any unusual activity. 
• Don’t click on any link that comes your way unprompted and don’t give out your personal or banking information to anyone. 
• Above all else, trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel quite right or too good to be true, chances are it might be another scam that you can avoid.

Read more about how to save for a emergency fund