Community warning as scam initiative circulates

Sunshine Coast Council is urging the community to be on alert for a scam involving a fake initiative labelled ‘Beautify the beaches program’ circulating on social media.

This impersonation attempt appears as a letter from Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Rosanna Natoli. The initiative has been shared on social media platform Instagram which encourages the community members to email *beauty*@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au.

Council Staff are investigating and will report to Instagram and relevant authorities, and our community is encouraged not to engage with this post or email as it is not legitimate.

We encourage anyone who has received social media or other communications via a fake profile to report this behaviour to the social media network it’s occurring on, the Queensland Police Service, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and Scam Watch.

The public should be encouraged to report suspicious activity to the hosting platform (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn etc) and can notify Council via https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/council/contact-council.