Scams Awareness Week starts on 17 August, 2020

The NDIA is encouraging participants, families and carers, providers and the wider sector to ‘Protect yourself from scammers’.

Scams Awareness Week starts on 17 August and aims to highlight to all Australians the importance of keeping personal information secure.

A scam is an illegal trick, a type of fraud usually designed to get money from people by way of deception.

The NDIA is committed to educating you about scams, so you can protect yourself and those closest to you, and so you know how to report issues if you believe you have been scammed.

The emergence of coronavirus (COVID-19) has seen scammers take advantage of the uncertainty, changes in circumstances and the growing use of technology.

An example of a scam might be someone sending false billing emails. These may look genuine but ask you to pay an invoice into an account that is different to the usual account you pay money into, for that provider or supplier.

To protect yourself from scammers, the NDIA is urging you to keep your online identity safe.

Measures you can take to guard against scammers include:

  • if you’ve been asked to pay money into an account you haven’t paid into before, always check over the phone with your provider, or service supplier, to confirm the account details and be sure of who you’re dealing with
  • not opening suspicious texts, pop-up windows or clicking on links or attachments in emails,
  • keeping your online personal details secure by keeping your password a secret, and; 
  • choose passwords that are difficult to guess and update them regularly.

Visit our Scam awareness page to learn how to protect yourself from scammers or to report a scam. If you need information in different languages, visit the Services Australia webpage on scams and identity theft

If you think you have been scammed, you can also call the NDIS fraud reporting and scams helpline on 1800 650 717 or email [email protected] to report a scam.