Online scam activity is sadly widespread, and scammers are impersonating a range of trusted charities.

Online scam activity is sadly widespread, and scammers are impersonating a range of trusted charities.

Anglicare Sydney serves the most vulnerable people in our communities, and it is incredibly disheartening and disturbing to see these pages targeting those who can least afford to be scammed. 

Our focus is two-fold, on quick reporting and removal of scam pages, and helping our clients be scam aware.

Fast detection and reporting of scam pages is key, and we work with Meta to have pages taken down as soon as possible. In addition to the Meta verification (blue tick), we’ve found best success by using Meta's Brand Rights Protection portal to have pages that use our trademark taken down, reducing removal time from days to hours.

We’re also educating our clients and the wider community, providing scam aware information and videos on our official Facebook page and our website and equipping staff with fact sheets and scripts as they speak with members of the public through our community services offices.

In addition to a range of tips on ‘how to spot a scam’, we say ‘Anglicare Sydney will never ask for your myGov, banking, or any other passwords. We will never assess you for help over social media.’

Sadly, wherever there are opportunities for financial gain, scammers will proliferate. We want to see tech giants like Meta, and others in cyber crime increase investment in scam prevention to better protect the community.