Safer Internet Day is a global event that brings together communities, families, schools and organisations from more than 200 countries to help create safer online spaces.

This worldwide initiative is celebrating 20 years in 2023, making it a great time to reflect as well as look forward.

ACA asked Scamwatch to share with us educational resources to help stop scamming. Scammers are continually developing new ways to catch people out. We need to increase our vigilance in checking for those little clues that can alert us that something is a scam. Scams cost Australian consumers and businesses, and the economy, hundreds of millions of dollars each year and cause serious emotional harm to victims and their families. In 2021, Australians made more than 286,600 reports to Scamwatch and reported losses of around A$324 million. By the end of August 2022, Australians had lost even more, with reported losses of over A$381 million. As alarming as these numbers are, we know that around one-third of people who are scammed never tell anyone, so the true numbers are likely much higher.

Scamwatch tools and resources

The Scamwatch and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission websites contain a range of tools and resources about scams:

■ Scamwatch Report Form: if you’ve come across a scam, you can report it using this form (scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam);

■ Scamwatch reporting statistics: provides up-to-date statistics on scams reported by Australians (scamwatch.gov.au/scam-statistics);

■ Targeting scams reports: yearly report on scam trends and statistics (accc.gov.au/publications/targeting-scams-report-on-scam-activity/targeting-scams-report-of-the-accc-on-scam-activity-2020);

■ Helping a friend or family member who is a victim to a scam: useful information if someone close to you has been scammed (scamwatch.gov.au/get-help/help-a-family-member);

■ Be safe, be alert online: information on organisations who may be able to help when someone has been scammed (accc.gov.au/publications/be-safe-be-alert-online);

■ Where else to get help: other organisations who might be able to help when someone has fallen victim to a scam (scamwatch.gov.au/get-help/where-to-get-help); and

■ The little black book of scams: information on identifying a scam, available digitally in a range of languages (accc.gov.au/publications/the-little-black-book-of-scams).