The woman was a victim of identity fraud, in which someone had stolen her identity and taken out a loan in her name to buy the car.

Recently, a Casey resident placed an advertisement in simpletrader.com.au to buy two puppies.

A trader, who claimed to have puppies for sale, contacted the consumer who paid $280 to a Western Union account before he noticed the money was sent to Cameroon.

The consumer queried the trader who claimed it was a third-party account. Fortunately, the consumer cancelled the transaction and received a refund.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, with a regional office in Berwick, has received more than 280 reports of similar scams in the south-east since July last year.

CAV spokeswoman Kim Healey said the major scams reported have been online fraud, such as Nigerian bank scams, bogus lottery schemes, investment and financial scams, prize awards and get-rich schemes.

She said mobile phone and internet fraud cases were steadily increasing.

There hd also been a few cases of scammers used social networking sites.

Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson urged Victorians to watch out for online fraud, as part of this year's National Consumer Fraud Week.

He said Victorians needed to be aware of the risks of online transactions so they could protect themselves from being scammed out of their hard-earned money or their personal details.

ONLINE SCAMS

■Fake ads selling cars or rental properties posted on genuine websites.

■Emails purporting to be from banks and other financial institutions requesting personal information such as PINs and passwords.

■Emails claiming the recipient has won a lottery or prize draw they never entered and requesting payment of an 'administration fee' to release the winnings.

■Identity theft from social networking sites.

■Dating scams, where 'love seekers' use hard-luck stories to defraud people.

Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria

Details: Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300558181 or Consumer Affairs Victoria.