Australia's consumer agency is warning people to be careful when donating money to support the bushfire recovery efforts and volunteer firefighters.
The warning comes as fire-related donations to online crowdfunding platform GoFundMe reached an all-time high in Australia.
A statement from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says many scams go unreported because people do not realise they were targeted, and urges people to be vigilant and proceed with caution online.
"Do not donate via fundraising pages on platforms that do not verify the legitimacy of the fundraiser or that do not guarantee your money will be returned if the page is determined to be fraudulent. Be careful about crowdfunding requests as these may be fake and also come from scammers. Check the terms and conditions of funding platforms and ensure you are dealing with official organisations," stated ACCC.
Scammers are using a variety of methods to target people including door-knocking and asking for donations on behalf of charities.
Other scams appear in the form of text messaging, cold-calling and fake online crowdfunding pages.
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