The public is being urged to exercise caution when encountering online advertisements claiming to offer free government-sponsored medical insurance or similar benefits.

The advice comes as the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission has identified a series of online scams targeting senior citizens with offers of free health insurance.

These scams are disseminated through various social media platforms and websites, prompting individuals to click on links to claim the supposed benefits.

FCCC Chief Executive Joel Abraham is advising the public against interacting with such links, as they may lead to fraudulent websites aimed at collecting personal information.

Abraham says that the true threat of these scam advertisements is how sophisticated they are and how easily people can be misled.

“There is a major breakdown of societal relationships especially because of the result of these scams. But the unfortunate part is that the measurement of that is never out there in the market. We always talk about this much has been lost, this amount has been lost. Money can be recovered but trust once lost is difficult.”

Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica says the government is committed to tackling such fraudulent activities through its multi-agency taskforce, but citizens need to exercise vigilance as well.