If a sponsored post or a special event infiltrates your Facebook feed and looks too good to be true, it probably is, with a dramatic rise in the amount Australians are losing to online scammers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A current questionable sponsored social media post targeting Illawarra residents is from the geocache game company Clued Upp, who are luring people to their website to download an app and purchase tickets for an Alice In Wonderland experience in Wollongong on August 27.
According to their website, the event has other dates scheduled for different locations around NSW and the world and promises an "immersive outdoor escape-room style experience".
"Your secret starting location will be revealed two weeks prior to your event," it states.
"Scramble across town on foot solving clues and completing challenges against the clock."
Clued Upp boasts being in partnership with large multinational companies like "20th Century Fox" and publisher Penguin Random House - a spokeswoman for the latter confirming to the Mercury the Australian and New Zealand arm had no such association.
Meantime, the film company no longer goes by that title since merging with Disney in 2019 and changing their name to 20th Century Studios.
Of the app reviews on both Apple and Google Play store, comments like "poor execution", "dull and time consuming" and "confusing" are common themes - but because the app works to some degree they are unlikely to get any money back.
"It's a bait and switch type of scam," said Shahriar Akter, Associate Professor from the University of Wollongong's Faculty of Business and Law.
"People are getting something, but it's not as promised due to deceptive or misrepresentative advertising."
Professor Akter said there had been a rise in "bait and switch" scams - such as with online shopping - in recent years as companies like PayPal still recognise it as a legitimate purchase and won't refund.
"If a buyer sees something damn cheap, it's being sold at heavily discounted on Facebook, be cautious," Associate Professor Shahriar Akter said.
In 2021, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported an 84 per cent increase in money lost to online scams, with Australians being rorted out of $323 million compared to $175 million in 2020.
The top three ways people were being duped were by crypto currency and bitcoin, dating and romance scams, and online shopping (including fake Facebook advertisements taking users to a false URL designed to steal information and dollars).
"The ACCC [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission] says one person lost $650,000 in one cryptocurrency scheme," Professor Akter said.
"Online shopping is also loosing people heaps of money. For example, if you order a Christmas tree you will receive a toy Christmas tree instead ... one person ordered a quad bike and they received a toy quad bike in the mail."
If a scam company is based overseas (which many of them are), there's not much retribution, the professor said.
If something looks too good to be true, it probably is, Professor Akter said, and if you paid by bank transfer or PayPal you are likely not to get any money back.
"Most of the time there's not much you can do; it's buyer beware."
To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.