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 romance scams.
Unfortunately, scammers are active on online dating sites, and, like other forms of scams, will attempt to exploit people's emotions to steal money.
Scammers can also use social media to make contact.
Always consider the possibility an approach could be a scam.
Never send money to someone you haven't met, no matter what elaborate story they tell you.
Doing a reverse image search of a profile picture can help you spot a scammer.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre has instructions on how to do this. Click here to find out.
Detective Inspector Vince Byrnes from the Financial and Cyber Crime Group encourages Queenslanders to be wary of anyone who asks to send them money, gifts or banking/credit card details.
"Be very careful about how much personal information you share on social networking and dating sites," Detective Inspector Byrnes said.
For information on fake websites, phishing scams, parcel delivery scams, fake seller/buyer scams, puppy scams, free gift cards, holiday scams, impersonation scams and fake charities/fundraising appeals, click on the links below:
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.
