As scamming incidents continue to increase, the Trade Minister has emphasized the urgent need for increased public awareness and legislative changes to tackle the issue.

Manoa Kamikamica says Fijians face financial losses due to scams and has highlighted the government’s proactive measures to combat these fraudulent activities.

He says they will soon start an awareness campaign and one of the primary messages of the awareness campaign is to educate the public about the classic signs of a scam.

Trade Minister, Manoa Kamikamica

In addition to public awareness, Kamikamica also stressed the need for legislative reforms to deter scammers and protect consumers more effectively.

“We’d like to start looking at changing some legislation. One is to make perpetrators aware that if you misbehave and perpetrate scams, the consequences are quite dire. One of the big learnings from the recent eBay scam was that you can’t stop scams until you get a report from the consumer. And I think the laws need to be proactive.”

Kamikamica is optimistic that legislative changes will be supported by both the government and the public.