The Scam Taskforce has agreed that greater awareness is required to avoid ordinary Fijians falling victim to online scams and that early warnings be made by consumer protection agencies.
Members of the Scam Taskforce convened this week for their third Taskforce meeting, represented by members from the Ministry of Trade Co-operatives, Small and Medium Enterprises and Communications, Ministry of Local Government, Reserve Bank of Fiji, Office of the Solicitor–General, Consumer of Fiji (CCoF) and Fijian Competition Consumer Commission (FCCC), Online Safety Commission together with its co-opted members Vodafone and Digicel Fiji.
In a statement, the Taskforce says it is also important to keep up to date with emerging scams happening internationally.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Co-operatives, SMEs and Communications Manoa Kamikamica says that there were lessons learnt from previous scams.
He says it is important that the people of Fiji be aware that online scams are fast evolving and better disguised and it is critical for everyone to be digitally educated.
He adds the Taskforce will be creating awareness materials and digital education online modules for the general public in this regard.
The Deputy Prime Minister also reiterated that it is unacceptable for people to continue to prey on the vulnerable.
Kamikamica says it was also revealed that a new way of scamming is through Viber accounts being hacked whereby the hacker will try to obtain money from your contacts.
He says this is a new type of impersonation that is happening and the Taskforce has received reports and complaints in this regard.
Kamikamica is urging the members of the public to be vigilant and not transfer funds without doing some basic checks.
He says perhaps check the number which the Viber message is coming from, why the person is asking for money or even call the person and check if they are really asking for money.
Kamikamica says precautionary measures need to be taken when sharing personal information with anyone like IDs or PINs.
The Taskforce has reaffirmed its support by continuing to conduct scam awareness and customer education through radio stations, talkback shows and social media handles such as Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram targeting both the older and younger generations.
They are also planning to reach out to international partners to combat cross-border scams and re-align our agencies to international best practices through its members.
The Office of the Solicitor-General will also review the existing laws and identify the gaps that restrict agencies from dealing with the perpetrators.
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