Do You Know a Scam When You See One?

What are the most common scams to watch out for and what are the golden rules to protect yourself? The Ark Group is holding a forum on 28 and 29 March in Melbourne called  Community Engagement Australia 2017: Creating the Social Treehouse, to answer those questions. Register for the event on the Ark Groups’ website.

As part of the event, Jayde Richmond from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will discuss The Little Black Book of Scams, an internationally recognised tool for consumers and small business that helps to inform the community about the most common scams to watch out for.

In today’s environment, it is imperative that organisations are committed to giving the community a voice in decisions and projects that affect them and their community. Community engagement enables organisations to communicate proactively and collaborate with the public to implement a project where the community is cooperative and members are actively involved.

While many organisations recognise the importance of effective community engagement and have done so successfully, practitioners still face an ongoing struggle with limited budgets and sustaining community interest. Moreover, as technology continually changes it is becoming vital for practitioners to stay up to date with new media and explore new and innovative ways to engage.

There is a one-day forum that brings together case studies from a number of organisations. Community Engagement Australia 2017: Creating the Social Treehouse will give people the opportunity to explore best practice community engagement through practical case studies and real life examples. Presentations will explore best practice techniques and use case studies to demonstrate where community engagement has worked well or not so well and the lessons learnt.

As part of the forum, Richmond, director – consumer strategies & engagement at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will look at The Little Black Book of Scams, which is internationally recognised as an important tool for consumers and small businesses. The Little Black Book of Scams informs the community about most common scams to watch out for, how scams are delivered, golden rules to protect yourself, and where to report a scam.

Everyone is vulnerable to scams so everyone needs information about how to identify them and avoid being scammed. Some people think that only the gullible and greedy fall victim to scams. The truth is scammers are clever and if you don’t know what to look out for, anyone can fall victim to a scam.

Have you received an offer that seems too good to be true, perhaps a phone call to help fix your computer or a threat to pay money you do not owe, an alert from your bank or telecommunications provider about a problem with your account or even an invitation to “befriend” or connect online? Scammers know how to press your buttons to get what they want.

At the upcoming forum Community Engagement Australia 2017: Creating the Social Treehouse, Richmond will focus on a case study discussion that will be around:

• an overview of the history and development of The Little Black Book of Scams;
• keeping up with scammers – an intelligence based approach to engagement; and
• staying relevant to diverse audiences – simplifying the messages and working with others.

Register to attend the 28 and 29 March forum, held at Novotel on Collins in Melbourne, to hear from Jayde and learn more about common scams.