Aussies still getting sucked in by scammers

Scary fiction is fun, but the worrying truth is that identity theft is a fact – and too many Australians fall victim to it. Find out how to keep the scammers and thieves at bay with these simple self-protection strategies.

 




 

Fact: Losses from cyber crime and scams reported to the ACCC totalled $63 million in 2010.

Fact: Scams reported to the ACCC more than doubled from 2009 to 2010.

Fact: 1.5 million Australians had their credit card skimmed, and 1.2 million had their bank account illegally accessed in 2009.

Fact: Scams initiated by unsolicited telephone calls increased almost 700 per cent, jumping from 2,036 reported events in 2009, to 14,144 in 2010.


Here’s a scary story. A teenage girl has taken a babysitting job and is all alone in the house with two young children. All seems normal, right? But then the phone calls start. There’s a guy on the other end, making threats – she hangs up, but he just keeps ringing back. Eventually the girl gets scared enough to call the police and they promise to find the source of the prank calls. But when they get back to her, they’ve got some terrifying news: the calls are coming from inside the house.

Okay, so this probably never actually happened, but like all urban legends, it teaches us an important lesson: you don’t always know who’s contacting you … or where they’re from or what their intentions are. You probably don’t have to worry too much about calls coming from inside your house, but as the facts show, when it comes to your personal information and your money, there really are scammers out there who are out to get you.

With National Consumer Fraud Awareness Week just behind us, now’s a great time to look at how to protect yourself from identity theft – but more importantly, you need to start taking action! Last year Veda Advantage revealed that 70 per cent of us have yet to put basic protective measures in place to guard against identity crime, and as scary as the ACCC numbers are, the true story of identity theft, fraud and consumer scams is probably a lot scarier – it’s likely that there are many people out there who don’t want to admit they’ve been fooled, and the ACCC is just one of several agencies who receives reports about cyber crimes and scams. Who knows how many more victims there are out there?

So how can you protect yourself from cyber crime and stop your name being added to the list of victims? These basic steps are a great place to start:

Monitor and protect
Monitor your accounts and take action quickly if you see any suspicious activity, even if it seems minor. You’re also entitled to see your credit reference file – you can check it for free if you have it posted to you, or you can access it online for a small fee  – so get hold of it and check it thoroughly for errors. Credit report agency Veda Advantage also offers an alert service that will allow you to keep track of any changes to your file as they happen, which will allow you to challenge anything that seems wrong straightaway, and the fee is a small price to pay to know whether someone’s stolen enough of your identity to pretend they’re you and apply for credit in your name.

Know who you’re talking to
Don’t provide personal details over the phone unless you were the one who initiated the call. If you receive an unsolicited call from a company you do business with, request the caller’s details and call the organisation back, but not using the phone number they give you – you could just be calling a scammer back. And don’t follow links you receive in emails, even if you recognise the sender. Some ‘phishing’ scams can be quite sophisticated, so if you receive a warning or special offer, always go directly to the company’s website to verify it. One of our staff received an email like this just the other day – the ‘sender’ was boasting about the great deal they’d gotten on a new iPhone, and all she’d need to do to get the same deal was follow the link. What the scammer didn’t know was that the email address they’d stolen to send the emails from belonged to a child who would never have sent an email like that. Our staffer got away from this scam unscathed, as did the kid whose email had been hijacked, but it just goes to show how easy it could be to get taken in – who knows what that link could have unleashed on her computer if she’d been tempted to click through?


Stop sharing
Personal information is the key to identity theft and one of the biggest weapons scammers have: it helps them to access everything they need to take you for a ride. Don’t post personal information on online networking sites, and if you already have, at least ensure that you’re using the maximum privacy settings that the site offers. If companies, both online and off, ask you to provide any personal information when making a purchase always make sure you ask why they want it. There are some circumstances, such as when you’re opening a bank account, where you’re legally required to part with your info, but often companies just want to build a customer database. And the more of your personal details that are out there, the more at risk you are.

You really can’t always know who’s calling … or emailing … or lurking … but if you keep an eye on your money, a tight grip on your personal information, and report any identity theft as soon as you know it’s happened, you’ll be able to limit both the risk of getting caught out and the damage criminals can cause.

Is Gen Y the Debt Generation

It doesn't matter what generation you belong to, having more debt that you can cope with isn't fun! So whether you're an X, Y or even a Boomer, we have some great tips for taming the credit beast and getting off the debt treadmill!

Gen Y - they've got it all. They're the generation of social networking, Harry Potter, and the iPod. They’re technologically savvy, open-minded and focused on creating a healthy work/life balance. They managed to avoid the fashion disasters of the 70s, faced down the dreaded Millennium Bug and they've got their whole future ahead of them. But unfortunately, Gen Y has something else that's a whole lot less encouraging - an enormous amount of debt ...

They’re not alone: Australia’s love affair with credit is stronger than ever. The latest figures from the Reserve Bank reveal that our collective credit card bill from December 2010 broke through the $49 billion mark, and our average household debt has reached 2.5 times our annual household income.

Clearly, debt is common, but it seems young Aussies in particular really need some great debt management advice to learn how to cope with it
 
Veda Advantage 2009 data indicates that Generation Y are responsible for 37 per cent of Australia’s total consumer credit defaults, despite only comprising 20 per cent of the ‘credit active’ population, with a higher rate of telecommunication and personal loan defaults than any other generation. According to ITSA, 15 to 29 year olds accounted for 18 per cent of people applying for bankruptcy and 37 per cent of people entering debt agreements in 2009. Failure to manage debt on this scale can have serious ramifications – and bankruptcy isn’t the ‘easy’ out many people think it is. Bankruptcy limits what a person can own, where they can work and where they can go for years at a time – and the notation stays on your personal credit reference for seven years. If you’re a young person, this is the last thing you need hanging over your head – but many members of Gen Y just don’t seem to have learnt how to avoid it.
 
The late teenage years are a critical time financially – it’s a time when young people start to bring in steady incomes and take on big financial responsibilities. But it’s also a time that’s littered with ‘debt traps’. If you want to avoid getting stuck, try these simple tips for avoiding some of the most common financial pitfalls:

Go pre-paid
Mobile phone debt is sneaky. Post-paid plans can come with ‘included call’ amounts that can seem impossible to exceed, but these days phones do far more than just make calls – with texting, internet capability and endless options in downloads and added extras, it’s all too easy to eat up your included call quota. And with 83 per cent of teens owning a mobile, that’s a lot of young people at risk. Taking the pre-paid option puts a limit on what you can spend – but remember that just ‘topping up’ your phone every time the money runs out isn’t really a cheaper option. You need to commit to making the credit last for a certain period of time to make the best saving possible.

Think debit not credit
These days it can seem hard to get by without a credit card. Online shopping generally requires you to have one, and everyone’s keen for the simple convenience of just swiping a card to pay. Unfortunately, the combination of high interest rates and easy access to money can cause big problems – 37 per cent of those who entered into debt agreements in 2009 said that excessive use of credit was the cause of their financial woes. That’s where debit cards can be your ‘knight in shining armour’ – debit cards give you all the convenience of credit cards, and access to your favourite online shopping sites, but because you’re only spending your own money, it’s almost impossible to rack up huge amounts of debt.
 
Don’t borrow trouble
Once you turn 18, you’re old enough to sign a financial contract. But before you do, it’s vitally important that you understand all your rights and responsibilities. Whether you’re getting your first credit card, taking on a personal loan, or considering guaranteeing a loan for someone else, read the fine print thoroughly and think carefully about whether you have the resources and discipline to manage the debt. Once you sign on the dotted line, you’re liable – so be absolutely certain you know what you’re doing, and you can afford to repay any loans, before you whip that pen out.

These days it doesn’t matter what generation you belong to – budgeting, money management, avoiding financial traps and taking control of your money is more important than ever. If you can do that (and if the 2012 disaster theories fizzle out like Y2K did!), you’ll be able to create the financial future you really want!

Has the Family Holiday Become an Unaffordable Luxury?

Cheap holiday deals might be just what you need to banish the holiday blues this year!

It's been a tough year for many families, and most of us are probably looking forward to taking a well-deserved break this summer. But with budgets stretched to breaking point, knowing how to get the best cheap holiday deals is more important than ever!

Christmas is over – you've cleaned up all the wrapping paper, washed all the dishes and sent most of your relatives home. And now, what you really need after all the fun and excitement of the holiday season is a nice, long holiday. But the question is – can your wallet take the strain? The last year has brought some enormous financial pressures, and while we might dream about holidays to all sorts of exotic destinations, the reality is that this year’s holiday might just have become a luxury that many families can’t afford. In fact, many of us are peering into our holiday savings account and finding that there’s not be enough in there to take us any further than a camping trip in the backyard!
 
A recent survey revealed that 42 per cent of respondents are sacrificing holidays – going for cheaper holidays or not taking a break at all – as they struggle with the strain of higher mortgage payments. Compounding the problem is the increasing cost of living, which outstripped the CPI in the September quarter.
 
There’s no doubt that things have become tougher, but with a bit of forward thinking you can still plan a family trip that will get everyone excited, without leaving your budget in need of a good, long break! The trick is to use every strategy you can to get more for your money – it might take some time to hunt down the best deals, but when you consider the savings you can make, it’ll be time well spent.
 
There are many ways to save on holidays, starting with these great strategies:
 
Timing is everything
A recent survey discovered that a family of four could make significant savings on a Gold Coast resort holiday just by avoiding the ‘premium’ peak period from Christmas through to 10 January. From mid-January onward there’s typically more flexibility in pricing, although the school holidays are still considered ‘peak’ time. But the best way to get cheap holiday deals is to avoid school holidays altogether – it’s possible to save up to 50 per cent on accommodation costs alone outside this time.
 
Net a bargain
Googling ‘cheap family holidays’ delivers an absolute goldmine of family holiday savings, and you can get even more by registering for newsletters from airlines, railways, accommodation chains, resorts, tourism websites and car hire agencies. Once you know what deals are available, it's worth making a call to the places with the best prices as it's sometimes possible to get an even better deal in person.
 
Let’s make a deal
‘Bonus night’ deals have become very common, as have ‘kids eat/stay/fly’ free offers. If you don’t need to make ‘set in concrete’ plans for your holidays, late deals can be a great way to save – and as long as you’ve got a sense of adventure, leaving things to the very last minute can be a lot of fun! You can also often get special deals through insurance policies, credit cards and roadside assistance memberships, Entertainment® books and shop-a-dockets. And with the current economic climate, it’s always worth checking with your local travel agent to see what cheap, all-inclusive holidays they have available.

Hit the road
If you know where you want to go, does it matter how you get there? You can reduce your costs significantly by picking the cheapest form of transport available. While flying might be fast, it can also be expensive – and taking a car trip together can be a great way to spend time with the whole family, and sometimes seeing the sights along the way can be almost as much fun arriving at your destination (and the kids will have plenty of time to play on their iPods and Nintendos, as well as catching up on the DVDs they’ve missed through the year!)

Pack your accommodation
Camping is probably the absolute best way to have cheap summer holidays – and can be a great way to have a whole lot of fun on a tiny little budget. If tents aren't your thing, it might be worth looking into renting a motorhome or caravan – bringing your accommodation with you can give you a lot more freedom and flexibility to go wherever you want rather than where you can get a room for the night.

By planning ahead and taking the time to get the best deals, you can get more for your money and take the break you need – so you can recover from all the work you put in over Christmas without making your money management work extra-hard to catch up in the new year!

Invasion of the identity snatchers

Imagine somebody stealing your life – wearing your clothes, sleeping in your bed, doing your job. Your friends and family might not even notice you’re gone … not until it happens to them too. That’s the plot of the 1978 film 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers', where aliens plot to take over the world by growing copies of human beings and replacing them one by one. Creepy, right? While we’re pretty sure the world isn’t being taken over by pod people, something a lot like this happens regularly in the financial world – identity theft.

Being a victim of identity theft means that somebody has enough of your personal information to convince financial institutions that they are you – which means they can tally up enormous debts in your name. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself and ensure that your identity remains yours. 



Identity theft is when someone takes your personal details and uses that information to apply for loans and credit in your name, which you’ll be held accountable for unless you can prove that the debt isn’t yours – and that can be difficult, since the thieves had enough proof that they were you to get the credit in the first place. There are several different ways criminals can get hold of your personal information – Veda Advantage’s Identity Crimes Report from 2009 revealed that over 1.5 million Australians had credit cards illegally skimmed, and 1.2 million had bank accounts illegally accessed or personal mail stolen. What’s more, about 55 per cent of Australians had lost credit cards, keycards and drivers licences in the last three years, and 24 per cent of people had lost their personal information more than twice. The worrying part is that your stolen details won’t necessarily be used immediately, with the Australian Police believing that criminals are ‘harvesting’ information, slowly building up profiles of individuals based on stolen information for use later.

 This is definitely an instance where prevention is better than cure, and the good news is that it’s pretty simple to do.

Let’s take a look at some easy ways to protect your credit identity:
•   Report identity theft immediately – a lost or stolen wallet can contain more than enough information for thieves to start creating a fake ‘you’.
•   Change your PINs and passwords regularly to protect credit cards and online banking details.
•   Buy a shredder and destroy all documents that contain personal information when you no longer need them – even seemingly innocent mail that’s addressed to you (such as utilities bills) can be used to provide proof of ID.
•   Keep a record of when regular bills are due, and contact providers if your bills don’t arrive on time – stolen account details can provide thieves with a lot of personal information about you.
•   Never, ever provide your bank account or credit card details to callers or emailers who claim they are from your bank, credit or utilities providers. Take a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach and contact these organisations yourself to confirm the validity of these calls before handing information over.
•   Never store your PINs or passwords on your mobile phone, and don’t keep them in your wallet either.
•   When you’re shopping online, check the security of the website you’re accessing.

These are just a few of the things you can do to protect yourself, but unfortunately, there’s no ‘perfect’ defence against having your identity stolen – the best you can do is be alert, be careful and ensure that you protect credit and personal details as much as possible. Part of this process is ensuring that you keep a close eye on your personal credit reference, which is like your financial ‘report card’, kept by Australia’s credit report agency, Veda Advantage.

The thought of someone having enough information to pretend that they’re you is something we think everyone should be concerned about, but there are steps you can take to keep your personal information safe, and by keeping an eye on your credit reference as well, you’ll be able to limit the amount of damage identity thieves can do. And now that’s out of the way, the only thing left to worry about is whether the pod people really are coming to take over the world!

Where there's a Will

‘The Will of a rich man read: “To my loving wife, Rose, who stood by me in rough times as well as good, I leave the house and $2 million. To my daughter, Jessica, who looked after me in sickness and kept the business going, I leave the yacht, the business and $1 million. And to my cousin Dan, who hated me, argued with me, and thought that I would never mention him in my Will – you were wrong: Hi Dan!”’
– Anonymous

The above example may or may not be true, but it does illustrate the point that your Will is about more than just divvying up your cash assets! Of course, there is a serious side to all of this. According to Newspoll, around 45 per cent of adults don’t have legal Wills. Without a legal, up-to-date Will in place, your estate will be divided by a government formula, and the reality is that this is unlikely to reflect the way you would want things to be done, or sometimes, even what’s ‘fair’, as the formula tends to only include family members, not friends or organisations that you may have wanted as beneficiaries.

This year, Good Will Week runs from 12-19 September – so if you don’t have a Will yet, now is the perfect time to tick this important money management item off your ‘to do’ list, and although the DIY kits are very convenient, they’re also very easy to get wrong, so if you want to make sure your Will will do what you want it to it’s probably best to have it drafted professionally. You can have this done by your solicitor or a Will Maker for a fee, or for free by the Public Trustee in your state (on the condition that you name the Trustee as the executor of your estate).

Who needs a Will?
We think that everyone over 18 needs a Will, but if you’re still not sure, see if you fall into one of these categories:

Over 18s (with no partner or kids) – although you may think that you have ‘nothing’ of value, this may not be the case. Along with your personal belongings, you may have ‘hidden’ assets that you haven’t considered such as superannuation, life insurance and shares, and without a Will they pass to your next of kin, whether they’ve been a part of your life or not.

Parents with children under 18 (or carers of a child with a disability) – your Will allows you to detail what you want to happen with your child/ren, including guardianship and how you want your child/ren to be raised.

People in a ‘domestic partnership’ – if you’re not legally married, your partner will need to prove that your relationship existed and that they are entitled to a share of your estate. Think about what it would be like to have to do this when you’ve just lost the person you love most in the world – do you want to put your partner through that?

Anyone who cares about their belongings – do you want to make sure that your precious possessions are taken care of by someone who will love them as much as you do, rather than risk them being sold off on eBay? A Will lets you decide who will take care of the things you love.

People who want to choose their beneficiaries – without a Will, your friends and relatives by marriage may not be entitled to a share of your estate, even if they are closer to you than some of your blood relations.

Already got a Will? You need to update your will if you get married, separated or divorced
Your Will may become invalid if you marry after you have had it drawn up (depending on the state you live in), with your spouse automatically becoming your beneficiary, and if you separate or divorce, you need to change your Will to reflect your new circumstances, otherwise your ex-spouse could still be a beneficiary of your estate. This has the potential to cause big problems, especially with new intestacy laws in NSW, which now allow for ‘multiple spouses’, meaning that the person you’re legally married to and the person you share a ‘domestic partnership’ with both have a claim over your estate … and it’s not hard to see how that could cause some serious arguments!

Losing someone you love is painful enough, but getting drawn into a lengthy and expensive court battle over their estate makes it that much harder. Make sure you protect your loved ones by having a legal Will in place and keeping it updated and remember, just because you won’t be there, doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to take care of your family and loved ones.

There's More To A Fantastic Retirement Than Just Income Planning

Even if you’ve got your financial retirement plans in order, you’re not finished with designing your retirement lifestyle yet. Think back to the last time you took the day off work because you were sick. You probably wandered around in your pyjamas until midday, tried to find something worth watching on television and went through two or three boxes of tissues. Not very exciting. Now take that image and subtract most of the tissues from it. Without the right retirement information, there’s a very real chance that this is how you could wind up spending your retirement. Chilling, isn’t it? Lying around the house is all right for a day – maybe even for a week – but how would you cope if you had to do it for 20 years? After all, there are only so many episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful that a person can watch before they completely lose their marbles. Many people spend decades responsibly saving up for a comfortable retirement lifestyle and then retire to find that being comfortable isn’t enough. They need to have something to do.

As much as we grumble about it, work forms a big part of our identity. When new acquaintances ask us to tell them about ourselves we usually start out by describing what we do for a living. Work gives our lives structure and meaning. We don’t like Mondays and we do thank God it’s Friday – and ordering our week that way, with five days on and two days off, gives us a comfortable, predictable routine. Much of our sense of accomplishment comes from the things we do at work – the satisfaction of a job well done, and the bonuses and promotions that sometimes go with it. As long as we’re getting our work done, we know we’re useful members of society. We usually make a lot of our friends at work, and having lunch or drinks after work with them can be one of the highlights of our day. You did all that income planning during your working life in order to have the freedom to do what you want during your retirement, but retiring also takes all those things you’ve been depending on away. If you’re not prepared for the change, that can make you miserable.

But don’t despair: life after work doesn’t have to be boring. Nobody’s forcing you to wear pyjamas and watch daytime television. It’s just that nobody will force you to stop doing it, either. You’ve got to do that for yourself. Like most things in life, making your retirement a success requires a plan. To start with, the first thing you have to do when you’re getting ready to retire is sit yourself down and make a list of all the things that make you, you. Cross off anything that has to do with work, and what you’ve got left are the materials out of which you’re going to build your new life. Make a new routine out of all the things you love to do and note down all the hobbies and activities you’re going to be involved in; www.seniors.gov.au offers a range of retirement information that can help you find things that interest you. Try to get out of the house every day, and find time to spend with your family. And remember that your skills don’t disappear just because you’ve stopped working. George Bernard Shaw once said, ‘… he who can does, he who cannot teaches’, but that’s not necessarily true. Sometimes the best teachers are those who can and have done, so consider taking up tutoring or mentoring and contribute to somebody else’s success. If teaching isn’t quite up your alley then check out some volunteer organisations, because they’re always looking for help and you might be just what they need. Helping others can sometimes provide just as much satisfaction as earning a paycheck ever did.

Retirement shouldn’t be something that is done to you – you’re not being put out to pasture because you’ve outlived your usefulness. You’ve worked long and hard to create enough wealth to allow you to live the life of your dreams. The important thing now is to make sure those dreams don’t slip through your fingers by making the most of the retirement information that’s available to you and ensuring that you can expect a great retirement income. Planning now is going to make all the difference when it comes to making your retirement the best time of your life. And, every now and then, if you do want to lie around in your pyjamas and watch soap operas, you can do that too … you won’t even have to get a doctor’s certificate.

Back-to-School Ideas for Beating the Budget 'Gremlins'

Your kids might be too old to worry about monsters under the bed. You may no longer need to check inside their cupboards for bogeymen or leave a light on when they go to sleep. But no matter how old, how tough or how cool your children may be, there are still three little words that can chill them to the bone: back to school. 

Well, all right, maybe we’re exaggerating a bit. Going back to school isn’t all bad and some kids even look forward to it, but after a two-week break getting your family back into its usual routine can be difficult. While there might not be any monsters lurking under the kids’ beds, the disorganisation gremlins can seem pretty real – and they have a knack of sneaking into your wallet and eating up all your cash while you’re busy working on getting everybody back on track. Fortunately there are some simple money management tricks you can employ to help keep those gremlins at bay and your budget in good shape, and if you plan ahead you can be well prepared for both the rest of the school year and the rest of your child’s school career.

To get you started, here are some great back-to-school ideas that you can start using before school heads back:


    •    Get all your grocery shopping done. Canteen money can be a big expense, particularly when it isn’t something you’ve deliberately factored into your budget. By making sure you have everything you need ahead of time you’ll be able to save money and make sure your kids are getting food that’s good for them.

    •    Stock up on the school essentials. Your kids are likely to need a seemingly endless supply of pens, pencils, rubbers, rulers and glue over the rest of the school year – and most parents are unsurprised by now to see how often their equipment gets lost or broken. Save yourself time and money by buying the cheapest stuff that will work for school and buying it in bulk if you can.

    •    Plan your meals for the next week ahead of time. This is a good idea at any time, but particularly so when your kids have just gone back to school. They’ll probably come home tired and very hungry so being able to answer the question, ‘What are we having for dinner tonight?’ will save you from being tempted to get expensive (and unhealthy!) takeaway to tide them over.

These simple tips will help keep you covered in the first week back at school, but what about the future? We’re heading toward the business end of the school year now – your kids are beginning to work toward their yearly exams, there may be excursions and other unexpected expenses coming up, and soon it will be time to start preparing for next year.

Now is a great time to dust off your budget planner and make sure you’ve allocated enough money to pay for everything your kids are going to need to get through the rest of this year, and an even better time to prepare your budget for the future. You won't need sophisticated money management software to do it, just a rough idea of what the kids are gong to need in the coming years. 



If your child is just starting kindergarten, high school or university, or is entering one of the ‘big’ school years the expenses can be even heavier. Year 10 and 12 students sometimes need extra equipment for their major projects, so you might want to adjust your budget to accommodate some extra supplies, just to be on the safe side.



If your child is heading to uni, you might be in for a bigger shock – some of those textbooks really do cost an arm and a leg! Start looking in second-hand or co-op bookshops as an alternative, and keep your eye on university newsletters or message boards – students often sell their textbooks cheaply once they’ve completed a course (just make sure that you’re getting the right edition of the textbook, otherwise it’ll be a waste of money, no matter how cheap it is). 

Going back to school when the holidays are over can be a bit rough – but with a bit of organisation you’ll be able to keep the gremlins out of your wallet and your budget intact while still making sure your kids have everything they need for school.