Two weeks ago the Lake Times reported on scammers calling pensioners claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and last week the NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe sent out a stern warning of more emerging scams in the region.

“I urge everyone to share this warning, with family members, friends and neighbours and within communities because we continue to see victims being robbed of their money and their dignity,” he said.

The latest reported scams were; an 83-year-old Balgownie man who lost more than $600 overnight after responding to online offer for Windows 10 and a Woonona woman who was contacted by a scammer pretending to be a Telstra technician and asking for access her hard drive.

Warilla resident Ray Delatorre, 91-year-old, was glad he had read his local paper and knew about the scam before he was contacted last week.

“I got a call in the afternoon and they left a message saying they were from the ATO and I needed to ring the number back, if I didn’t I would be arrested,” Mr Delatorre said.

“Since then I have had a few silent phone calls where no one says anything.

“It didn’t scare me because I saw it in the paper, but it was a wake-up call and I rang my daughter and warned a few people.”

The Commissioner Mr Stowe said scammers looked for vulnerabilities, were ruthless in their pursuit of victims and had no moral compass whatsoever. For more information on scams go to www.scamwatch.gov.au