Scam Reports
Browse all reported scams in Australia
14 scam reports found
Fake Etsy Sale Email via Snappy
I'm in Australia. I sell on Etsy. Early on 19 October, three emails arrived that looked like they were about my shop. I have never used Snappy. The shop had no orders. The first email arrived at 03:19. The subject was "You have a new order". The sender was FormSubmit. The message said someone had submitted a form on formsubmit.co. It was dressed up as an Etsy receipt for custom coasters, with an order total of $7.77, and it said the payment had cleared. The details link was written as https://etsy.com@tinyurl.com/43ndedvs. That is not an Etsy address. The words before the @ sign are decoration. The link opens on tinyurl.com. The second email arrived at 03:36. The sender name was "Etsy via Snappy". The subject was "Your account has been blocked". It said the account was temporarily suspended until identity verification was finished, and that listings were on hold. The link was written as etsy@t.co/JCpEpbckvl. That is a t.co short link, not etsy.com. The mail app hid the images and said the message looked suspicious. The third email arrived at 06:04. The sender name was "Etsy Team via Snappy", with the Snappy logo. The subject was "Confirm Sale". It said an item had just been purchased, and that I had to open a secure page before I could see a shipping invoice. The page was https://id9779312.shop/LQWhc. It said that after verification the funds would land on my card straight away, and that I had 24 hours. It was signed "The Etsy Team". I did not open any of the links. I did not type in a shop login, a card number, or ID. Etsy does not send sale mail through FormSubmit or Snappy. A real Etsy message comes from an address on etsy.com, or it sits inside the Etsy app. A link that puts etsy.com, or the word etsy, in front of an @ sign is a trick. The site that opens is the one after the @ sign, or a short link such as t.co or tinyurl.com. If this email lands with you, do not click the link and do not reply. Open Etsy by typing etsy.com yourself, or use the app you already have. If the shop shows no order, the email was fake. Report it to Etsy and to Scamwatch. If you already opened the link, or typed in a password, card, or ID, change the Etsy password from the real site and call your bank on the number printed on your card. Anyone who later offers to recover a payment for a fee is another scam.
Fake ATO Crypto Asset Disclosure Email
I'm in Australia. On 7 October an email arrived that looked like it was from the Australian Taxation Office. The subject was "Legal Requirement: Mandatory Crypto Asset Reporting". The sender name was the Australian Taxation Office. Inside, it called itself an official notice of requirement. The notice ID was ATO-2026-CRYPTO-4831692. It cited Taxation Ruling TD 2014/26 and TR 2014/7. The email said Australian residents have to disclose crypto. That included holdings on trading platforms, holdings in self-managed wallets, and income from staking, lending and mining. It gave 14 days to complete a mandatory crypto asset disclosure form. A second email the same day used the same story. It warned of fines up to $10,000 and prosecution under the Taxation Administration Act 1953 if the form was not completed. I did not open the form. I did not enter wallet balances, passwords or ID. The links were not on ato.gov.au, and they were not a message in myGov. The first link was a file on Amazon S3. The host was secure-connection-envelope-fbim8tayaz.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com. The second email used a Backblaze address, secure-member-method-3davr2twvr.s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com. The ATO does not send a crypto disclosure form as a file on cloud storage. I do not use the myGov app. A real ATO message still turns up in the myGov inbox, or it comes in the post. It does not arrive as an email with a button that opens a disclosure form. If this email lands with you, do not click the link and do not reply. Forward it to ReportScams@ato.gov.au and report it to Scamwatch. If you already opened the link, or typed in holdings, sign-in details or ID, call the ATO on the number published at ato.gov.au. Do not use a number printed in the email. Call your bank on the number printed on your card.
PayID Wrong-Number $32 Text Scam
I'm in Australia. On 1 October I got a text saying someone had accidentally sent me $32 through PayID. The message said the money was meant for their partner, that they had typed the number wrong, and asked me to send it back. I checked the old bank account that is still linked to my PayID. I do not use that account. The $32 was there. Nothing else was in it. The same morning I also had missed calls, and nobody left a message. I did not send the $32 back, and I did not reply. PayID is a real Australian way to pay someone. A text is not how a mistaken payment gets fixed. If the money really went to the wrong account, the sender asks their own bank to recall it. If you transfer it back yourself and the bank later reverses the original payment, that $32 comes out of your money. The person texting you may also want it sent to a different number from the one that paid you. Leave the money where it is. Do not reply to the text. Do not return a missed call from a number you do not know. Call your bank on the number printed on your card, or the number inside your banking app, and let them handle it. If an old account is still attached to your PayID, move the PayID to the account you actually use, then close the old one. Report the text to Scamwatch.
Fake Cloudflare Check on the Fienza Website
I'm in Australia. I was looking at a page on Fienza, the Australian bathware site fienza.com.au. A box popped up that looked like Cloudflare. It said human verification had failed, and that I had to finish steps on the keyboard before the page would continue. A real Cloudflare check stays in the browser. It does not ask you to open a command window, paste anything, or run a program. I closed it and did not follow the steps. I reported the page. The fake box is no longer on the Fienza homepage. Fienza is a real bathware business. This was not a message from them. Someone had placed a fake verification over their site. The page was set up to download and run a program on the computer. That kind of program is used to take saved passwords and sign-in codes. If any site asks you to press keys, paste, or run a command to prove you are human, close the tab. If you already did that, disconnect the computer from the internet, call your bank on the number printed on your card, and change important passwords from a different device. Report it to Scamwatch and ReportCyber. Anyone who later offers to fix the computer or get money back for a fee is another scam.
Instagram Terminally Ill Dog Donation Scam
I'm in Australia. I came across an Instagram account calling itself Lisa the black dog. It posts videos of a black dog and claims the dog is a lymphoma warrior that needs chemo. The bio asks people to donate $6,000. Any amount helps, it says. The videos are stolen. They were taken from a real dog owner's account and reused to tell a completely different story and collect money. The fake account deletes comments that point this out. I have not donated. I am posting this so other Australians do not. Do not send money. Do not click a donation link. Do not join a GoFundMe if they post one. Report the account on Instagram. If you already paid, contact your bank or PayPal and report it to Scamwatch. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.
Registration Pty Ltd is NOT a scam. I originally asked my bookkeeper about whether i should pay this company review letter and she said it would probably be cheaper than my accountant. she was right, and i get to store my solvency docs in my dashboard with reg.com.au too. I just wanted people to know it's not a scam and i'm glad i use them.
Fake CBA Fraud Team Callback Scam
I'm in Australia. I got an email that looked like it was from CommBank (CBA). It asked me to review a weird change on my account by calling a number it said was the CBA fraud team. I called that number. It sounded like the bank. I gave them my credit card details. As soon as I realised it was a scam I used the real CommBank number on the back of my card — not the number in the email — and froze, locked and disputed the charge. They still got a $5,000 charge through on the card. Because I authorised it on the call, I do not know if I will get it back. CommBank will never email you a fraud-team number to call. They will never ask for your card number, PIN or a one-time code over the phone. Hang up. Call 13 2221 or use the CommBank app. Do not call any number in a CommBank email or text. If you already did, lock the card in the app, call the real fraud line, and report it to Scamwatch. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.
CustodianX CFD Trading Scam
I'm in Australia. I got pulled into CustodianX (custodianx.net). They pitch CFD trading with a flashy dashboard and an AI-driven platform, and they promise huge profits. The dashboard looks legit. It is not. You never get your money back. I refused to make a bigger deposit. Weeks later they came back and tried every trick they had to get me to send cash or crypto to their wallets. Do not send money to CustodianX. Do not transfer crypto to wallets they give you. If you already paid, contact your bank or exchange and report it to Scamwatch. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.
Australia Website Solution Money-Back Scam
I'm in Victoria. We hired Australia Website Solution (australiawebsitesolution.com.au) to build a website for our business. We also paid extra for an SEO content package and extra again to have our ERP system integrated. Their Google ads still push a Basic Website Package from $199 with a 100% money-back guarantee. The main site lists the same guarantee on packages from $1,660 up. For the first four to six months we had regular weekly calls and it seemed normal. A finished, usable website never arrived. After more than four months we asked for the refund they advertised. They refused, saying they had invested time. When we asked for the guarantee terms, the small print only allowed a refund within 15 days of purchase. That was not made clear when they sold the 100% money-back line. They said they would escalate it internally. Nothing happened. On a follow-up call we were left on hold for over two hours while someone claimed they were checking with accounts. Then the calls stopped. Emails to support@australiawebsitesolution.com.au went unanswered. Our work number started getting blocked. If we call from a new number and give the business name, they hang up. Payments were requested by direct bank transfer to Soltech Digital Ltd — a different name to Australia Website Solution on the invoices and the website. Their listed address also changed from a specific St Kilda address to a generic Melbourne CBD one. Do not pay Australia Website Solution up front. Do not send a bank transfer to Soltech Digital Ltd. Their ads quote (03) 6185 3550. If you already paid, dispute it with your bank and report it to Scamwatch. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.
Muse AI OptixAI Subscription Scam
I'm in Australia. I downloaded an app called Muse AI after I saw a Venom-style AI transformation video. The paywall said the first week was USD 0.99, then USD 19.99 every week after that. I paid AUD 1.49, generated a couple of videos, and went straight to cancel. There is no cancel button. There is no subscription setting. The only option is to email support, and the address the app copies is optixai.help@outlook.com — a random Outlook inbox, not a company domain. The app screen says Muse AI version 1.2.2. I emailed that address on 18 August 2026 and asked them to cancel. I also called Westpac. They said they could not put a stop on it because it was a card charge, not a direct debit. Do not tap the $0.99 / 90 percent off promo in Muse AI. If you already paid, email optixai.help@outlook.com so you have a paper trail, then dispute the charge with your bank or card issuer. Anyone who later offers to recover the money for a fee is another scam.
Nodelink Crypto Machine Scam
I'm in Queensland. I've been friends with a lady for a few years. About four months ago she told me about an investment she and some people she knows were doing that was earning a lot of money. It was called Nodelink — they have now changed the name to Novalink. The pitch is you buy a Nodelink / Nx1 "machine" and what they call participation units. Each machine can take about 100 participation units. The more units you add, the faster they say your investment grows. You also buy an Onza+ licence for $950 AUD. That one runs for three months, in crypto. After three months you are supposed to withdraw those funds and use them to fill more participation units on the machine. I did decide to try it. I bought a Nodelink machine and two participation units, plus the Onza+ licence. They say the machine uses unused internet bandwidth in your house and you get paid "rewards" you can withdraw later. The last few weeks it has started feeling like a scam. Weekly Zoom meetings, crypto, recruiting other people, "uplines" — it looks like multi-level marketing. They keep changing the name. I have not been able to get a straight answer about withdrawing real money. I am posting this so other Australians do not put money in. Do not buy the machine, the participation units, or the Onza+ licence. If a friend is already in it, get them to stop sending money. Anyone who later offers to "recover" the crypto is another scam.
Text Scam - Hey Mum I broke my phone
This scammer sends you a text from +63 948 528 7903 (Philippines) pretending to be a son or daughter and says "Hey Mum. I broke my phone this morning.. Can you text me on this number 0495018921? It's kind of urgent (love heart emoji). This is a SCAM, do not text them back. Block them and report them at this website.
Registration Pty Ltd
I just received a very formal letter advising my company review was due and payment was required. I went to paid it and thought "I'm sure my Accountant does my company review". Anyway, long story short, i wasn't sure about this reminder letter at first. They may indeed provide this service but i think i'm going to stick with my accountant. How could people pay $449 for something like this? I am going to ask how much my accountant charges.
A scammer by the name of “Andrew Conrad” contacted me on Facebook Marketplace. He tried to pretend he was a car buyer and he was very forceful in attempting to get me, the seller, to purchase a “DMV report” or “car report” or “motorvehicle check” from his bogus website. He said he was going to pay cash, and would come out only once I paid for the vehicle report on the website he gave me, which was “automotorchecks.com“ My investigation found that both his profile and website were scams. The scammers have put al ot of work into the website of this elaborate scam, hoping to trick you into paying for a report, then they never come and buy your car. Screenshot below shows how they try to talk you into paying “$37” for a “vehicle report”, but it’s a scam and they never actually show up and buy your vehicle. They just want the $37.