Fashion Scams and EOFY Sales

Rob Neely

End of financial year sales are all around us at the moment, and according to the Australian Retailers Association this year Aussies will spend a whopping $9.3billion on mid year sales. For scammers, the thirst for shoppers to grab a bargain means that there are thousands of unsuspecting new victims on the horizon. 

Scams are everywhere – the PayID scam, the Netflix Scam and the Quickfire scam are just some of the ones doing the rounds. Online shopping scams are often a little different. It involves criminals creating a mimic of ‘ghost’ shopping sites to rip off unsuspecting shoppers. Some are incredibly sophisticated and will use social media ads, or have really strong SEO, so customers are targeted based on what they are interested in. 

Australians have had more than $2.5 million stolen from them in these types of scams and that is just in the first four months of this year. We also know that Australians often don’t report scams to authorities when it takes place -in fact recent research from SellSecurely.com found that two thirds (66%) of Australians who have been scammed didn’t report it. 


What we also know is that when it comes to these types of scams individuals tend to lose less than $1000, with the low price of the products on offer helping scammers to lure in victims, and Millennials (aged 25-45) are the most likely to fall victim to this type of scam. 


There are some tips of how to avoid scams this sale season (while still being about to grab a bargain), here are my top tips: 

  1. Ask questions, shop around and compare offers before you buy. Any legitimate seller will allow you to ask questions about the item ahead of making a purchase, so if you are suspicious make sure you ask some questions. Ask for additional information, more photos and try and understand why this item is priced below others. A quick conversation with the seller is usually a great way to uncover a possible issue. 
  2. Research customer reviews: By taking some time to read customer reviews on the site, or doing a simple Google search to review feedback from others, you will be able to understand if the site is legitimate or not. The internet is a powerful place so if the seller is dodgy there will usually be someone who has reported it in the past. 
  3. Be aware of the full cost of the item including extra charges, taxes or additional shipping and handling fees when purchasing online. There are many ways that sellers will make extra money, so be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully to understand hidden fees and charges. 
  4. Use a trustworthy third-party payment service such as SellSecurely.com if purchasing online, particularly when buying and selling privately. SellSecurely engages Escrow – which means both the buyer and seller are protected. Money is transferred fast, and with both parties approving the payment – there is no room for scams to take place. This is new technology, and it has been built to protect the buyer and the seller. 


With some vigilance and additional research you can still nab a great bargain over the coming weeks, but at the end of the day, I always live by the motto of: if the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

A person is holding a piece of paper that looks like a unicorn.
By Rob Neely May 5, 2025
Securely announces $6m(USD) Series A begins mid May. Five years ago, our founder set out to solve a real-world problem: Scams. He wasn’t a fintech expert — but he knew the problem was real. So, he built a team. People who could help him turn the idea in his head into something that could move markets. A couple of years in, we had an MVP live and we caught the attention of bankers in Australia. That was a sliding doors moment. What started as us becoming a launch customer for a new bank product ended up being a turning point — it gave Rob deep, first-hand access into how bank payment rails really work behind the scenes and that’s where he had a eureka moment. A moment Elon Musk has talked about, but still hasn't achieved — connecting social media profiles to bank accounts. Why does it matter? Because 8 out of 10 scams today start on social media. Because scams are now a $1 trillion dollar problem every year. And here’s what he realised: Everyone was looking at it from the wrong end. Instead of asking Facebook to clean up fake profiles — banks could step up. Banks could offer their customers verified digital identities tied directly to their accounts. We searched the globe. No one was offering it. No one had even patented it. So we did! Our patent was lodged in 2023 — published in April 2025 — and it’s on track to be fully granted within six months. And the market size? Seventeen billion transactions a year happening on peer-to-peer marketplaces — and virtually no formal payment rail in sight. For banks, it's a game-changer: It protects up to $3.5 trillion dollars in deposits from bleeding into third-party apps. It makes customers safer. It strengthens trust. And — who would’ve thought — it might even be a service they can charge for. In the last 6 months, we’ve won fintech and payment awards in New York and Berlin. We’re now being talked about as Australia’s next tech unicorn — and maybe even the next PayPal. But to get there, we don’t just need cheques. We need doors opened. We need strategic partners. We need smart capital. We've already started global conversations with banks in US, Latam, India and the EU — and we’ve only been commercialising for six months. And we’re not a one-trick pony either. We hold three patents, with a fourth on the way. We’re now raising our first external round — a Series A. If you can help this little Aussie scale-up go global — We'd love to talk.
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A logo for the us fin tech awards that says innovator of the year winner
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