Aussies warned over $500 gift card Instagram scam

Australian shoppers are being warned over a sneaky online gift card scam that can put victims out $69 a fortnight due to a hidden detail.

Global fast-fashion giant Shein has soared in popularity across the world in recent years.

But Digital security company Avast says they have detected a new scam which entices Australian Instagram users with the promise of a $500 Shein gift card.

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The scam begins with a comment from a random account on a user’s post which congratulates them for winning a Shein gift card.

The user is then prompted to click on a link to a third party website where they must fill in their details.

To redeem the ‘win’ the user must then pay a small fee of $2.

However, in doing this the victims are unknowingly signing up to a subscription service which debits their card $69 every two weeks.

This small but crucial detail is hidden in the ‘terms and conditions’ section.

Stephen Kho, cybersecurity expert at Avast, warned that Australia was in the midst of a “scamdemic”.

“There is a clear disconnect between Australians’ perceived confidence in ability to identify a scam and the increasing amount of money being lost to scams every year,” he told 7NEWS.com.au.

“In reality, this is being further fuelled by our own fear of embarrassment, with half of Australians admitting they would feel embarrassed if they fell for a scam despite the prevalence and sophistication of some of these scams, as scammers get sharper with their tools and scams become increasingly more targeted to individuals’ situations.”

What to do

He says if any of the following applies, it may mean you are being contacted by a scammer:

• The sender’s name is vague, and the email address is long or convoluted;
• The sender’s phone number is international or an unknown local phone number;
• The email or message is attention-grabbing or alarmist;
• The call you have received is from an unknown number with a robo-speaker;
• The email or message urges immediate action of some kind;
• The email, message or call cites some pretence for seeking your personal information, including asking you to log in or confirm your details on a website;
• The email or message requests payment or a transfer of funds; and
• The email or message urges you to click hyperlinked text or a link without clarifying where you are clicking.

Australians can report scams to the Australian ComPetition and Consumer Commission via the report a scam page to help spread the word.