Australians were scammed out of more than $11 million last month thanks to a plague of fake money-making schemes and romantic ruses. Dating and romance scams, where crooks target the lovelorn and lonely, cost a whopping $2.5 million in the same month. Cruel fraudsters even used lucrative puppy scams to target lonely people isolating during the crisis, raking in $300,000 so far this year. Scammers set up fake websites or ads on online classifieds and social media pretending to sell sought-after dog breeds. 'And scammers are now using the COVID-19 pandemic to claim higher transportation costs to get across closed interstate borders or additional fees for "coronavirus treatments".

Source: Daily Mail June 17, 2020 07:15 UTC