A new report reveals how the sale of people's consumer data could be fuelling common scams featuring fake road toll notices or texts purporting t

Experts say scammers are getting a leg-up from the system that serves us personalised ads

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2024-10-05 15:00:15

A new report reveals how the sale of people's consumer data could be fuelling common scams featuring fake road toll notices or texts purporting to be from AusPost.

The federal government is in the process of updating the Privacy Act, but changes to data privacy rules have been deferred until a later, unspecified, date.

If you've ever wondered how scammers time their fake Australia Post texts to land just as you are expecting a parcel, the online ad industry might be to blame.

"My phone pinged and there was a text message … it said, "Your E-Tag didn't work, you have an outstanding toll … hit the following link to avoid getting a fine'," he recalled.

"I had travelled on a CityLink toll road within about a week or so of that date … in fact, my E-Tag hadn't beeped properly," the 66-year-old Melbourne resident said.

It drew him into a sophisticated fraud that convincingly mimicked a multi-factor authentication process, dispelling the last of his doubts.