If you have received a call from a government agency recently offering you a refund from the carbon tax repeal the chances are you have been duped.
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Scammers are impersonating government agencies, falsely claiming consumers are owed thousands of dollars upfront from the repeal of the carbon tax.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair Delia Rickard said most of the con artists had offered consumers a $7000 refund.
"They do two things – they ask you to confirm your personal details, or they'll ask you to call them back and speak to a certain person, before asking for your bank account details," Ms Rickard said.
The scammers were taking advantage of dollar figures quoted in the press and by energy companies telling consumers how much they would save from the change.
Ms Rickard said the ACCC-run organisation SCAMwatch had received more than seven complaints about the scam in the past two weeks, but she expected many more people would have been targeted.
"Usually the scammers will have your name and at least one or two details about you already," she said.
"Scammers are now picking topical issues and building scams around them. We've identified this trend for some time."
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 and the death of American actor Robin Williams in recent months also had provided inspiration for scam artists.
Within 48 hours of Williams' death scammers circulated a fake video of a goodbye message he supposedly recorded.
People who clicked on the link found there was no video. Instead they were asked to complete a series of tasks, including sharing the video on social media and installing an add-on which, unbeknown to the user, infected the computer with malware.
After MH370's disappearance a similar scam on social media prompted unsuspecting people to click on a link supposedly showing a video of a sailor finding the missing plane.
Ms Rickard said tax refund scams also were common at this time of the year.
"If you're in any doubt don't use the contact details they give you. Actually go and source the contact details through a phone book or internet search and contact the company directly," she said.
"Never give away any more of your information than the person needs in the circumstances and never wire-transfer money."
Ms Rickard said anyone, young or old, could be a victim of a scam.
"There is an equal split between men and women and all age groups can be targeted," she said.
"However, the type of scam can be targeted toward certain demographics.
"Scams through social media target young people, while romance scams often affect the 45-60 year-olds."
Ms Rickard said the two most successful recent scams had involved con artists impersonating Telstra, Qantas and Virgin.
Scammers would pretend to be from Qantas or Virgin and would thank the unsuspecting person for flying with the airline recently, before saying they had won a $999 credit towards their next flight.
"They then attempt to get a lot of personal information, including bank account details," Ms Rickard said.
"This scam was quite successful because so many people fly."
The other scam had involved Telstra customers being called by a supposed technician, who asked for remote access to the victim's computer. The computer then was infected by malware and the technician asked for payment for "fixing" the computer.
"This is big business. There are whole businesses that exist on selling scammers the software they need to do the scamming and there is a black market where they sell the information," Ms Rickard said.
