By Gabriella Payne
A devious scam has been circulating throughout the City of Casey in recent weeks, luring vulnerable people into paying their council rates at a discounted fee, when in fact nothing has been paid at all.
Scammers are believed to be contacting ratepayers via phone, imitating an official council service and advising them that they can obtain a discounted rate on their fees.
Once the victim’s money has been transferred into a nominated bank account, the scammers make the payment to the council on behalf of that person, providing receipt evidence as proof.
The victims believe that everything has been paid and that they have obtained a discount on their rates, however the scammers don’t stop there.
Once the payment has gone through, the scammers then recontact the council and lodge a payment dispute, which allows them to obtain a full refund – leaving them profiting with all the money that was paid (the rate minus the ‘discount’), while the victim’s rate remains unpaid.
This means that the scammers get away with the money and it is not until later that the ratepayer discovers that they have been left in the lurch, with their original rate unpaid and undiscounted.
Brendan Browne, a spokesperson for the Casey Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association, said that he was alarmed to hear of this new scam and warned the community to be careful.
“It’s quite a worry, because these scammers are getting more and more sophisticated,” Mr Browne said.
“Unfortunately there’s always a number of people who will be vulnerable and we really need to raise awareness in the community.”
Mr Browne said that while he agreed with the City of Casey Council’s advice that residents should remain wary and vigilant, he also thought it was important that the council were doing their part to protect vulnerable residents and “need to ensure that their own actions aren’t facilitating the scammers”.
“We all need to stay vigilant and check things – but at the same time the City of Casey needs to ensure that they are vigilant and double checking when there are disputes too,” Mr Browne said.
“They need to be refunding money to the right bank account – I’m a bit perplexed by that.”
Mr Browne said that while he understands “mistakes are made” he thought the council also had a responsibility to ratepayers to make sure that the money was being refunded to the ratepayer – not the scammer.
The City of Casey council said that they “urge people to conduct the appropriate security checks when someone phones claiming to be from the council”, for example by asking them to provide their full name, postal address and to advise you how much is owing on the rates notice.
“You can also ask to return their call, and phone Casey on 9705 5200,” a council statement said.
The council asked people to “only pay your rates via the payment methods provided on your rates notice” and to “please pass this message on to your elderly friends or others who might not be on social media”, as it’s feared these people will be most at risk.
Mr Browne agreed with the council’s advice and said that “we need people to get the message out there, either via social media, through families or word-of-mouth so that everyone in our community is aware”.
“The scammers are doing this because they know that a small handful of people will be hoodwinked unfortunately,” Mr Browne said.
If you or anyone you know has been affected by this scam, you are advised to contact the City of Casey Council on 9705 5200 or for more information, visit www.casey.vic.gov.au
