New Scam Posters developed for Aboriginal Territorians
NT Consumer Affairs developed posters to highlight the dangers of scams and how to identify and avoid being scammed for people in remote and regional Northern Territory.
A key role of NT Consumer Affairs (NTCA) is to educate, communicate and offer advice about consumer issues to Territorians. Our website, YouTube channel and Facebook page helps to spread consumer messages across the Northern Territory.
Despite these avenues to share information and advice, NTCA struggles to reach Aboriginal Territorians in remote areas. Our call centre, Facebook page and website still rely on the consumer to make contact about their matter and to understand how NTCA can help.
Although NTCA has an Outreach Officer who can travel to Aboriginal communities to engage locals about the dangers of scammers, this approach is limited. Therefore, other avenues need to be considered to assist in spreading consumer protection messaging to regional and remote Territorians.
In recent months, Northern Territory Consumer Affairs (NTCA) has noted an increase in scammers that appear to be deliberately targeting Aboriginal people in remote and regional communities. Aboriginal people, as well as any community where English is a second language, are particularly susceptible to being scammed.
Noteworthy, is the recent ACCC Targeting Scams 2021 report, which shows 4,958 Aboriginal Australians reported losses of $4.8 million. This was a 43% increase on the previous year. These are only the losses reported to the Scamwatch website.
Many losses go unreported for a variety of reasons, including embarrassment or not knowing where to report. Aboriginal people are particularly susceptible. Their trusting nature, limited knowledge and English skills can make them highly vulnerable to a range of phone based scammers.
Consequently, NTCA developed three posters to highlight the dangers of scams and how to identify and avoid being scammed for people in remote and regional NT. The posters encourage people to contact NTCA. These posters use basic English and simple imagery to communicate their messages.
These posters also highlight the issue to the staff of the supporting agencies that work with Aboriginal communities. These agencies can connect with the local people, warn them of the dangers and encourage them to report scam issues directly to NTCA.
These colourful, engaging posters will be distributed electronically to communities, including schools, local government offices and other non-government and government agencies that work with culturally and linguistically diverse people and communities.
They will also be available to share from our Facebook page. Limited hardcopies of the posters will be disturbed via requests and through outreach activities.