Vulnerable migrants and temporary visa holders are being
targeted by scammers pretending to be from the Department of Immigration.
The scammers usually claim that there are problems with
the people’s paperwork or visa status and demand money to fix it or otherwise
face the consequences, including the risk of deportation and possible arrest of
family members.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
recently announced that more than 300 reports of this type of activity were
referred to it since March this year. The deputy chairwoman, Delia Rickard
suggested that the scammers might be obtaining personal information from social
media – a valuable reminder for people to take care when communicating via this
medium.
One tactic used by the scammers is to claim that they are
calling from an overseas High Commission or Embassy, and that upon reviewing
the person’s visa application it appears that it had been incorrectly filled
out and that unless this error was attended to and further fees paid, the
person would face the risk of having to leave the country.
Obviously these types of calls can be alarming and are
purposely designed to prey on the weaknesses of vulnerable individuals within
the community.
Rather than immediately agreeing to comply with the
requests of the caller, the best thing to do when receiving a communication of
this type is to indicate that you are not in a position to resolve this problem
immediately then ask for contact details in order that you can revert to the
caller at a more convenient time. Because it is a scam, in most cases it will
be unlikely to get contact details; it is more likely that another call will be
made at some other time.
As soon as the initial call is completed it is highly
recommended that you seek immediate legal advice. The cost of getting
professional help involved to represent your interests at an early stage will
end up being far more economic than paying money to a scammer.
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