COVID scams are coming as fraud costs Queenslanders $3m in losses

Queenslanders have lost almost $3 million through scams that intimidated them with arrest or threatened their lives, as experts now warn of COVID vaccine-related fraud.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission data showed from January 2020 to February 2021 Queensland had more than 7000 reports of threats to life or threats of arrest through scams pretending to be from an authority figure, resulting in a loss of $2.93 million.

This was up from 2640 reports and a loss of $534,000 in 2019.

Reports of identity theft in the state more than doubled to about 4400.

The data was revealed as people were being urged to watch out for COVID vaccine-related scams that asked for personal information such as booking details.

Across Australia,…