The children’s pyjamas on sale for bargain prices on social media purporting to be from a leading Australian sleepwear designer brand seemed too good to pass up.
Margaret Baker, 89, of Mollymook, came across the sale prices on the fake site through a link on her Facebook feed on April 15 this year. “I thought what a good buy it was,” Mrs Baker said, who remains active on social media.
Mrs Baker, a HammondCare home care client, immediately made gift purchases on her credit card for her wider family to put aside for later in the year – maybe even the following Christmas.
The bargain prices were too good to be true. It was yet another of the many scams on social media that can tempt anyone into a transaction but disproportionately pulls in older people.
The National Anti-Scam Centre reports show people aged 65 and over were easily the largest group reporting scams in 2025. There were more than 44,411 reports during the period for people 65 and over with a total loss of $88.8 million. Phishing scams accounted for $12.4 million in losses. For more information, go to https://www.nasc.gov.au/scam-statistics
Mrs Baker shared the news of the bargain buys with her daughter who was surprised as she had not herself seen any sales for the brand at that time. Mrs Baker had clicked on to a fake website developed to look identical to a real site from the sleepwear brand. She got caught by what is known as phishing or spoofing.
Later that day, HammondCare specialised carer Karen Gleeson arrived for her regular care visit to hear Mrs Baker talk about her bargain gift purchases.
Mrs Baker added she thought it strange there was no email to her inbox confirming the purchase.
Karen said: “Something did not seem right. I looked on the Facebook link and suspected immediately it could be fraudulent.”
Karen immediately sat alongside Mrs Baker and helped her contact her bank. Fortunately, the transaction had not yet been processed, allowing Mrs Baker to cancel the transaction and her credit card to prevent larger financial loss.
Karen helped her order a new credit card.
Karen also spent time explaining to Mrs Baker what to look for when browsing online, including how to identify genuine websites and how to better protect herself from scams in the future.
Karen was this week given a HammondCare Mission in Action award for demonstrating “genuine care, attentiveness and quick thinking” to protect her client.
HammondCare Executive General Manager Home Care Marcela Carrasco praised Karen’s commitment to ensure no financial loss for her client and empowering her with knowledge for the future about what to look for online.
Ms Carrasco said home care staff were increasingly facing client situations where they need to go above and beyond their usual duties to protect their client’s wellbeing.
She said all HammondCare home care team members receive basic training in how to detect and stop financial abuse and scams from taking place.
“More Australians than ever are receiving aged care support in their homes, and without someone looking out for them they can be prey to scammers and fraudsters,” she said.
For more information on HammondCare Home Care, go to https://www.hammond.com.au/care/home-care-services
