Victorian man loses $30k to scammers A VICTORIAN man has been duped out of nearly $30,000 after falling for a phone scam involving a non-existent government office. The Bendigo man received several phone calls from someone claiming to work for Westpac, informing him that he owed the bank a large sum of money. Another caller pretending to work for the Office of Fair Trading - an office which does not exist in Victoria - then gave the man a Western Union account number to pay the fictional debt. He made 14 instalments totalling almost $30,000 after receiving an average of five calls a day requesting further payments. Consumer Affairs Minister Heidi Victoria said the scammers went to great lengths to make the calls seem credible. "Scams are designed to seem legitimate and can be very difficult to differentiate from the real thing, so consumers need to be aware of tactics scammers use to deceive people," Ms Victoria said.