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Today our guest speaker was Inspector Jillian Gibson from The Wagga Police Command. She was welcomed by President Phil and introduced by PP. Geoff Breust who told us that Jillian was here to talk about scams. She is passionate about this subject and hopes to educate the community to their dangers and how to detect and avoid being scammed. He also told us that Jillian was on a crutch as the result of the pursuit of a criminal in a commando style chase. Jillian, however, gave a much more mundane reason, her knee popped when she was kneeling for shooting practice.
Jillian said "I have had 21 years with the NSW Police and have had a variety of roles across metro and regional locations. After tipping my hat at Detectives and General DutiesI became a licensing sergeant in Liverpool where I was lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship in 2014 to work overseas and explore crime prevention techniques with US and UK Police Services. I am a Temora girl and my roots were still in the Riverina so I have brought my husband and kids back. I love the excitement of the Police and the unknown, but most of all I love working in the community and talking with people. The Scams talk came about after we identified that Seniors were the most vulnerable to scams and needed the confidence boost to turn around and tell the people on the phone: NO!"
Jillian's style of delivery involved audience participation, so many members offered examples of scams and asked questions. Almost all have received scam telephone calls, text messages and emails. In the last twelve months Australians lost $568 million to scammers. The elderly made up a large proportion of those scammed. 58 Percent of those scammed are males.
Top scams for the year are phishing, email and phone scams. Romance scams target single older people. One person in the Riverina lost $340,000 to a romance scam.
Teenagers are the main target of sexting scams where a "supposed friend" on a site such as minecraft asks to exchange intimate photos. When the "friend" obtains the photo he/she then blackmails the victim for money, threatening to expose the photo on the internet to friends and family if not paid.
Receiving a text or call from a legitimate number is not always a guarantee that the caller is legitimate. Spoofing, where an app is used to mimic a phone call from a legitimate number to con a victim into responding to what appears to be legitimate connection.
If you are scammed first call your bank and second call police!
Jillian provided members with a booklet published by the ACCC called The Little Black Book Of Scams. It has some very useful information as well as tips on how to avoid being scammed. You can also go to the web site for the same information at www.scamwatch.gov.au
President Phil thanked Jillian for her interesting and helpful talk. Anyone who has any concerns can feel very comfortable contacting Jillian for assistance. Members gave our guest speaker enthusiastic applause.