The Consumer Council of Fiji is raising alarm bells that the level of sophistication and complexity of scams is increasing, while our level of awareness is not matching the pace at which it gets more complex.
Consumer Council Manager Campaigns Information and Media Ziyad Parvez says scams and fraud are becoming more sophisticated where highly believable deepfakes are being used to impersonate the Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor and a journalist.
He says fraudsters are not above using the latest technology to execute the latest scams.
He says in another incident, a person working on a private island transferred about $7,000 to an account that seemed to be in Papua New Guinea but it was actually someone from Fiji using a scrambling technology.
Parvez says the only reason he was caught was because all the money transfers were happening through a local money transfer account.
He also says there is a lot under-reporting of scams as there is a stigma attached to it and people are hesitant to come forward.
Parvez says there are a hundred complaints lodged each year but that is just the tip of the ice-berg because may more scams are going unreported and penetrating many sectors of the society.
He says another challenge is the lack of ability to act without a complaint being made where FCCC cannot act on public knowledge about pyramid schemes unless someone comes forward.
Meanwhile, the Online Safety Act review is underway.
