OUR SAY: Vigilance is key in stopping the scammers from reaching into our lives

Most commonly known these days as scammers, their work is usually characterised as something outlined in an email originating from somewhere like Nigeria.

Click on the link and you'll get to claim that major cash prize you clearly forgot all about.

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While these still exist, the awareness of these shysters and their unsophisticated ruses are now so entrenched in our community that the outcome insteady is usually a place in the intended victim's email junk box.

These days, again because of the reach of the internet, the swindlers use more sophisticated yet almost benign ways to hoodwink people.

Put an advertisement, for example, on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree and you'll be sure to get some instantaneous replies - all with the "I'm busy, but my brother can come around to get it today".

A search of their Facebook profiles can at least reveal their friendship group is in Greece or Russia, so a quick, easy sale won't be happening.

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We have to accept that what appears to the case very much is not.

It's a depressing thought, but something we just have to always consider in these situations.

This is borne out by newly released data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that reveals 13.2 million Australians were exposed to a scam of some sort in the past financial year.

In particular, text message scams doubled from 23 per cent in 2020-21 to 47 per cent in 2021-22.

Scams reach so far into our everyday lives that it is now a constant challenge to remain on alert for those things that appear to be too good to true.

The "unbelievable" bargain can still be a useful guide to the legitimacy of what's on offer.

Wodonga parent Alesia Park has told of how she went close to being victimised while searching for a new home.

As it turned out, the $350 a week rental price for a furnished, family sized home rang alarm bells - along with a bit of bad spelling.

We all need to be vigilant and, as she says, "question everything".

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