Victorians Warned Not to Back a Dud in this year’s Spring Racing Carnival
Victorians looking for improved returns from this year’s Spring Racing Carnival are being warned by Minister for Consumer Affairs, Michael O'Brien to be wary of schemes promoting computer systems that can return 'guaranteed' money from bets.
"The prospect of high returns with little or no risk is as likely as Phar Lap running in this year's Melbourne Cup,” Mr O'Brien said.
"It's impossible for a computer program to predict the outcome of a sporting event, such as a horse race. Any software which is promoted as such may well be a scam.”
Consumer Affairs Victoria has already received around 78 enquiries and complaints this year, from Victorians experiencing issues from purchasing gambling and investment software.
Consumers who have purchased these systems have often discovered that:
- systems do not work
- money back guarantees are not honoured
- requests for refunds are rejected because of clauses in the contract that the consumer was not aware of or did not fully understand
- they are blamed for not correctly following the criteria to use the system
- goods have been misrepresented
- linked credit contracts can make the contract more difficult to cancel.
For further information about scams, contact Consumer Affairs Victoria on 1300 55 81 81 or visit the Scams section of the website.