Centrelink has issued an urgent warning to Australians about a “bonus payment” scam.
Services Australia said on Monday there were “unofficial websites” that had been sharing misleading information about a bogus $1,800 payment to those receiving the Age Pension.
You may be encouraged to read about a new ‘one-off’ payment or ‘bonus’ by clicking on a link. Please only rely on http://servicesaustralia.gov.au and http://my.gov.au for official information on our payments,” he said.
Services Australia has issued an urgent warning to Australians to only visit its official website after people have been sharing misinformation from unofficial sites.
in the official Services Australia website It was an example of a scam, which said: ‘An additional pension of $1,800 is coming in Australia. Who is eligible, check the data on payment dates.
According to the government department, unsuspecting Australians have been sharing links to fake websites on social media, believing them to be official.
‘If the website URL does not end in .gov.au, then it is not an official government website. It could be a scam,’ he claimed.
‘We will always inform you when there are changes to any of our payments or services.
“We will inform you on our official website and official social media channels.”
Services Australia showed the scam on its website, warning Australians to be careful
There are multiple Services Australia scams circulating, including those involving myGov and Medicare.
Other Centrelink scams include scammers posing as members of the government agency calling people to tell them they must immediately pay a debt or face arrest.
According to the National Anti-Scam Center scam surveillanceAustralians have lost around $92 million due to scams so far in 2024.
In 2023, Australians reported more than 601,000 scams, resulting in a loss of $2.74 billion, down from the $3.1 billion lost in 2022.
The five most lucrative ways to scam Australians in 2023 were investing, remote access, romance, phishing and payment redirection.