A local scam expert is warning community members to slow down and think before making a purchase this holiday season.
“Scammers thrive on speed and emotion,” Anti-Scam Association Australia president Rob Neely says.
“This Christmas, slow down, verify who you’re dealing with and never send money to someone you haven’t properly identified. And under no circumstances send a deposit. The vast majority of marketplace scams are deposit scams.”
Rob founded Securely Group in 2020, a Noosa-based financial technology company. He says up to 85 per cent of scams reported by Australian banks now originate on social media, with an average loss of about $1000.
One major Australian bank is spending nearly $900 million a year on fraud and scams and employs 4000 staff just to manage the problem.
“We also know from national polling that around 60 per cent of scams are never reported, which means the real numbers are far higher,” Rob says.
“The safest thing you can do is pause, double-check and if you’re unsure, ask a family member
before sending money to anyone.”
Over the past four years, Securely has engineered one of the world’s most advanced banking payment rails, which is protected by three patents in digital identity. It was designed to stop these types of online scams, with an anticipated grant in mid-2026.
“We’re currently in licensing discussions with banks across more than 50 countries,” Rob says.
“Our patent also includes a world-first mechanism for verifying users under 16, which will become essential as governments move to strengthen age-gating across social platforms.
“By 2027 and further to that, we expect to launch Securely-Pay: a new third-party payment layer similar to Apple Pay or Google Pay but built to protect buyers and sellers by holding the funds until the purchased item arrives in good order.”
