About reporting fraud | Western Australia Police

How to report general fraud

Report general fraud to your local police station or alternatively call police on 131 444.

If your complaint relates to credit card fraud, cheque fraud and any other incidents of fraud involving your personal bank account, report the offence to your financial institution, and to the police.

How to report identity crime

If you are a victim of identity crime or identity fraud report the matter to your local police station. Please take supporting documentation with you, i.e. bank statement.

If you have information regarding persons committing identity crime please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

How to report major fraud and complex commercial crimes

To report a major or complex fraud matter please contact the Major Fraud Squad on (08) 9220 0700 to initially discuss your complaint.

WA Police is working in partnership with the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce to reduce the incidence of consumer fraud.

How to report a dispute regarding an online sales transaction

Online transactions are purchases made over the Internet and include purchases made at online auction facilities such as EBay and Gumtree. An online transaction is a commercial contract between a purchaser and a vendor. It is a civil contract and any dispute in relation to your sales contract needs to be resolved either directly with the seller by negotiation, or by commencing civil court proceedings against them.

To ascertain whether or not you may have grounds for commencing proceedings in a civil court you should consider seeking advice from a lawyer. You might also consider seeking advice from the government consumer affairs department in your state or territory.

Disputes regarding online sales transactions are considered to be a civil matters until evidence of criminal conduct is established. In relation to online transactions, the following events may amount to a breach of contract:

Non delivery of goods
The goods delivered do not meet with the purchasers expectations
Disputes regarding warranty
Non-refund of monies

The Western Australia Police do not investigate civil matters nor can we assist in civil court proceedings. We investigate breaches of the criminal law. If we obtain sufficient admissible evidence to establish the commission of a criminal offence consideration will be given to prosecution action. Police have no authority or power to become involved in civil disputes. Police have no authority or power to assist in the recovery of debts.

The Western Australia Police will investigate online transaction matters where:

the offender resides in Western Australia, and
a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct has been established.

If you believe your online transaction involves criminal conduct please follow the below information:

Reporting an online sales transaction where the vendor/seller resides in Western Australia

WA Police will commence a criminal investigation when a course of conduct can be established that gives rise to a reasonable suspicion a criminal offence may have been committed (e.g. multiple victims of the same seller).

To establish if a criminal offence has occurred we will record all information provided by you and assess:

the past history of the vendor
the number of victims reporting this vendor to police

Please note if a criminal investigation is instigated into this matter WA Police cannot provide any guarantee that you will recover your money or receive the item/s you ordered. Police will prosecute any identified offender if the evidence is sufficient to do so. You must be prepared to give evidence in court regarding your matter.

It is important that you retain all correspondence you have had with the seller.

If you have identified that the seller resides in Western Australia and you wish to report the matter to WA Police for assessment please email full details of the transaction to the Technology Crime Investigation Team.

Please include the following details in your report:

Name of online auction company
Seller's user name
Seller's name
Seller's address
Seller's telephone number
Seller's BSB and account numbers
Seller's bank account name
Item reference number
Item description
Date funds transferred and exact amount

Reporting an Online Sales Transaction where the vendor/seller does not reside in Western Australia

Australian Law Enforcement has an agreement that the state in which the seller resides is the state that will investigate these matters. Queensland Police provide detailed instructions on their website on how to report these matters directly to the relevant jurisdiction.

Please follow the instructions located at the below website to do this - Queensland Police website

To protect yourself when conducting any online transactions WA Police recommend following the below guidelines in every instance

Utilising the services of a reputable escrow service for any purchases made (e.g. EBay provide details on their website for an escrow service designed to protect both the buyer and seller).
Only dealing with well established sellers with good feedback and a large number of completed transactions.
Following the instructions for buying and selling listed within each Online Sales Website (e.g. EBay recommends and offers protection for buyers who utilise PayPal for online sales transactions).