It comes as the National Anti-Scam Centre revealed in the first three months of 2026 there were 45,816 scam reports.
(Sunrise)
Sunrise host Nat Barr has issued an urgent warning to viewers of the Channel 7 breakfast show over a growing number of scams being conducted in her name.
She said fake profiles posing as her have been created and are messaging people privately to start conversations.
Nat shared a message that a viewer named Sharon received.
“Hello Sharon, how are you doing? I’ve been monitoring your profile, and others too, for a while, and noticed you’re a big fan of my works,” the message read.
The television star pointed out it wasn’t her social media name, and that there were a “few small differences”.
“I do chat with viewers online from my verified account, I love hearing your feedback about the show, your story ideas, your favourite interviews and, yes, even about what I’m wearing,” she told viewers.
“But these messages are different.”
Nat said she would “never contact someone out of the blue claiming I’ve been monitoring their profile”.
“I would never ask for money, investments, gift cards, bank details or personal information,” she said.
She urged people to be wary, adding that scammers are becoming more savvy.
Online scams make up half of reports made in 2026
It comes as the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission’s National Anti-Scam Centre reveals that in the first three months of 2026, it received 45,816 scam reports.
It may not seem it, but it’s positive as it’s down 17.8 per cent from the same period in 2025.
Between reports to Scamwatch and ReportCyber, there was a financial loss of $248.3 million.
(Instagram/@natalie_barr7)
As in Nat’s case, around half of the scams were carried out online, through fake websites and social media messages.
“Online platforms give scammers the ability to reach large numbers of people quickly, cheaply and convincingly,” said ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe.
“Disrupting scam websites is one of the ways we can make it harder for criminals to reach Australians online. The takedown of thousands of scam websites in just three months shows both the scale of scam activity online and the scale of the disruption work underway.
“The National Anti-Scam Centre is continuing to work with platforms and other partners to detect scam activity earlier and make it.” Ms Lowe said.
People are urged to be cautious when dealing with online advertisements and social media messages.
