To address rising concerns among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities about how they can keep their personal information protected, ID Support NSW has launched a series of translated sessions tailored specifically for Arabic and Vietnamese speakers. In 2022, CALD communities made up almost five per cent of reports to Scamwatch with almost $56.6 million in reported losses. People who mainly speak a language other than English at home are more likely to be a victim of malware, identity crime and misuse, as well as scams and fraud. The top scams impacting people who speak English as a second language in Australia in 2023 were investment scams, employment scams, romance scams, and Identity theft. As the nation-leading identity support unit working to minimise the risks associated with identity theft, ID Support NSW is working to strengthen people’s cyber resilience no matter their background or what language they speak. ID Support NSW is assisting CALD communities with free, 60-minute translated sessions, where participants will learn how to spot a scam, run a credit check, recognise the importance of creating and maintaining strong passwords. Attendees can also ask the experts in the ID Support team any questions or concerns they have.
The first session will take place at Fairfield Library on 22 February and will be translated into Arabic. The second session will take place at Cabramatta Library on 29 February and will be translated into Vietnamese. The NSW Government has also launched a tool for people to choose stronger passwords and better protect their personal information online, including email, banking and social media accounts. The Password Strength Tester allows users to check whether a potential password has been previously breached or leaked, test how long it would take for a hacker to crack the password using a computer bot and provides a rating based on the strength of the password.
