From March to July 2023, Consumer Protection and IDCARE joined forces to share information and resources on scams, cybercrime and identity theft at free Cyber Resilience Outreach Clinics (CROC) across Western Australia.
IDCARE’s Team Leader Community Outreach, Rob Blackmore, visited WA towns in a ‘cyber truck’, co-branded with WA ScamNet, to give in-person advice and support to communities impacted by identity theft and cybercrime.
IDCARE is Australia and New Zealand’s national identity and cyber incident community support service, a not-for-profit and registered Australian charity. Their free outreach clinics in WA provided much-needed support to communities impacted by identify theft and other cybersecurity incidents and complimented the work WA ScamNet is undertaking in the regions. Visitors to the clinics learnt about:
- What causes the highest financial losses
- What criminals are targeting and how
- Examples of the latest scam calls, texts and emails
- The psychology of a professional scammer
- Remote access, data breaches and data breach notifications
- Keys to staying safe – physical, technical and behavioural
- IDCARE resources and how to access free community support services
The CROC clinics took a variety of forms, from stalls at community events and festivals, through to briefings and presentations in community halls. The locations were selected based on WA ScamNet and IDCARE data, local conditions such as the Kimberley floods, and requests from the community.
Australians living in remote and regional communities are three times more likely to be affected by cybercrime and scams than their city counterparts and experience higher financial losses.
CROC stops
The following locations had a visit from the CROC cyber-truck:
- Kalgoorlie
- Leonora
- Katanning
- Collie
- Bunbury
- Busselton
- Mandurah
- Perth
- York
- Dongara
- Port Denison
- Geraldton
- Carnarvon
- Tom Price
- Roebourne
- Wickham
- Dampier
- Port Hedland
- Newman
- Djarindjin
- Bidyadanga
- Broome
- Derby
- Fitzroy Crossing
- Wyndham