> Consumer advice  > Warnings

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• Pay Pal fraud email
• Beware the 3 Amigos
• Not at this address -- beware the cyber-squatters
• Hot water bottles
• Christmas 2007 toy safety warning
• Adelaide city fines - advice to consumers
• Phishing scams
• Marketing ploy
• Scalping

Pay Pal fraud email

A new type of phishing scam has targeted online consumers.

An imitation fake email from Pay Pal may trick some consumers into providing personal details to scammers who could potentially conduct fraudulent activity. The link in the email will direct users to replica ‘Resolution Centre' page. This replica page asks for details such as credit card number, expiry date and ATM pin number. For consumers who are frequent users of Pay Pal, they may know that the authentic website would only require an email address and Pay Pal password.

The Pay Pal website also states they do not ask for such information in e-mails to account holders and warns about suspicious e-mails or hoax websites. Never respond to an email requesting confidential banking details such as your PIN or internet banking password.

Internet users should take the following simple precautions to protect themselves from Internet scams.

• Keep your protection software up-to-date
  Use computer protection software, including anti-virus software, to prevent Trojan viruses that may result in personal and sensitive information being sent from your computer without your knowledge.
• Don't respond to unsolicited emails
  If you open an unsolicited email, think before you click on a link which may take you to websites where a Trojan virus is installed on your computer without you knowing.
• Don't disclose personal information
  Never respond to an email requesting confidential banking details such as your PIN or internet banking password.
• If in doubt, delete the email
  If you receive an email with a subject line that looks suspicious or you don't recognise the sender, it is safest to delete it without opening it.

Beware the 3 Amigos

Consumers are warned about the unfair business practices of Three Amigos Outdoor Gurus Pty Ltd, a retailer of outdoor products including motor powered bikes, buggies and remote control toys. Three Amigos is located at 50 Grand Junction Road, Ottoway.

OCBA has received a number of complaints from consumers about major defects in the products. Three Amigos has been reluctant to refund, repair or replace faulty goods. Also of concern are the unfair and illegal warranty conditions stated on the Three Amigos tax invoices.

Not at this address -- beware the cyber-squatters

Cyber-squatters and typo-squatters are entities who register domain names on the Internet specifically for the purpose of trying to profit by association with a legitimate business or organisation. The domain names they register are very similar to the names used by businesses or other organisations. Sometimes they will misspell a legitimate business name in order to trap browsers to their own site. This squatter's site may have content that looks similar to the legitimate business. The squatters can profit by setting up their page essentially as advertising, where they get paid per click.The squatter's site may also confuse people with words like 'This is the temporary home of this site.com.au' .

Beware...if you are trying to find an internet site, make sure you enter the domain address correctly, with all the correct suffixes (e.g. .com.au OR .sa.gov.au). If you think you are going to visit a site regularly, save the address in your Bookmarks or Favourites, or go through an Internet browser (like Google) to link to the site.

You may wish to add Service SA to your Favourites. The Service SA website can link you to any SA state government department so that way you know you are reaching the legitimate site. Their website address is www.service.sa.gov.au.

Hot water bottles

Hot water bottles can be dangerous if they are designed poorly or if they are filled or used incorrectly. To protect South Australian consumers, all bottles that do not meet the requirements of the British Standard have been banned from sale. But it is also important that consumers follow some sensible advice to avoid burns.

• Never use boiling water directly from a kettle to fill a hot water bottle
• Keep children clear when filling a hot water bottle because a spill could cause injury
• Don't overfill the bottle
• Never leave a hot water bottle in a cot with your child
• Ensure that the plug cap is firmly sealed with no leaking
• Always wrap the hot water bottle in a cover or towel
• Never place weight or pressure on a hot water bottle. Lying on a bottle can be especially dangerous.

For further information click here to view a fact sheet

Christmas 2007 toy safety warning

The monitoring program undertaken by OCBA leading up to Christmas has unearthed twenty two toys that fail safety and labelling standards. These items have been required to be withdrawn from sale. If you have purchased an item that you suspect may be hazardous to children, stop using the item and contact us for advice.
  Toy Failure test (18 KB PDF file)

Adelaide city fines - advice to consumers

The Commissioner for Consumer Affairs has warned consumers that notices attached to car windscreens in private carparks should not be confused with parking fines issued by councils.

The Commissioner's warning is directed particularly at the activities of Adelaide City Fines, a private company associated with the operator of Park Fast carparks. Adelaide City Fines is known to leave notices on cars in Park Fast carparks, asking for the payment of money.

Although these notices may resemble parking fine notices, Adelaide City Fines are not connected in any way with the Adelaide City Council or any other council and do not have any authority to issue council parking fines or expiation notices. Adelaide City Fines is a private company and these notices are requests for payment to Park Fast or Adelaide City Fines for alleged breaches of contract, that is, the contract with the parking station.

The Commissioner advises consumers that these notices do not, in themselves, legally compel consumers to pay any money. These are simply requests for payment. If you do not pay a notice, Park Fast will decide whether to sue you for the alleged breach of contract. If you are sued, it is up to the court to decide whether you should pay anything.

The Office of Consumer and Business Affairs does not encourage or condone illegal parking in a car parking station. Consumers are required to pay the appropriate fee for the time the car is parked in the station. To assess whether you are in breach of your contract with the parking station, seek legal advice.

The Office of Consumer and Business Affairs is also interested in hearing from you if you receive one of these notices or are sued for not paying one. The Office can be reached on 8204 9777.

Phishing scams

There is a very clever phishing scam circulating at present. It may catch you unawares because it actually includes a link to the real bank site, that of the NAB. A warning about this exact scam can be found on the real website along with another version that is also circulating. If you are a NAB customer you may stop and at least read it. Of course the more innocent may believe it. The email has the NAB logo, and the text goes like this:

Dear customer!
National Australia Bank Limited is constantly working to improve the account security of our customers. In order, to ensure the integrity and security of our online banking system, we periodically review accounts. We were unable to contact you by phone during the last check, so please verify the information at your account file and make sure it is right.

The email will ask you to verify your account information and take you to the following web link (https://ib.national.com.au/verify)

The next verification will be done soon, invalid account information will result in your account being placed to restricted status.

Customer Service
National Australia Bank Limited

Beware, linking to these email addresses will result in making your computer vulnerable to attack.

Marketing ploy

The Office of Consumer and Business Affairs has received a number of reports from consumers who have responded to ‘missed calls' on their mobile phones and then discover that they have ‘won' a gift to the value of $40 and can compete for the main prize of $10,000. The gift is a set of ring tones and in order to collect, the consumer must dial 190 225 0036 a premium rate service where calls are charged at $2.97 per min, mobiles extra.

It can take 4-5 minutes at the call rate of $2.97 per minute (about $15) just to find out what the ‘prize' is and a further $2 to SMS the promoter to activate the ring tones.

Callers to the 190-premium rate service are advised of the cost of the call per minute, the name of the service, the action required to proceed such as dial ‘0' and it is stated that calls from mobile or public phones will cost extra. This process is in accordance with the TISSC (Telephone Information Services Standards Council) Code of Practice. In other words, nothing illegal is happening here.

The ‘missed call' marketing strategy is unsolicited and relies on people's curiosity to find out who called them from interstate. The unsuspecting consumer pays just to return the marketing call at interstate telephone rates.

Although the charge rates are disclosed up front, if consumers were made aware of the likely costs to access the so-called gift, they would be in a better position to decide whether or not it was worthwhile to take up the offer.

Scalping

Scalping is the practice of re-selling tickets for sporting or entertainment events at prices that exceed the original purchase price of the ticket.

There is no legislation that specifically prohibits scalping in South Australia, however you should be aware that there are risks associated with purchasing tickets from scalpers.

Many tickets are originally sold by the promoter on the condition that they may not be on-sold. If you purchase an on-sold ticket, the promoter of the event may have the right to cancel the ticket and refuse you entry.
If you are thinking of purchasing tickets for big events via the internet or through classified ads, be careful. You could be buying cancelled tickets.

Some scalpers have been known to sell counterfeit tickets. Some have sold the same tickets several times. In any case, this could prevent you from entering the performance or game. Even if you can get in, you may find that your seat number is invalid.

Remember, if you don't buy your tickets from the authorised seller, you take the risk that you won't get what you paid for. And if you don't, how will you get your money back?

Related information

• Scam alert
  

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