Romance scams run rife in Australia, with ScamWatch estimating Australians have lost nearly $30 million in 2022 alone. One woman, from Melbourne, lost around $11,000 to a man who appeared to mimic the actions of the notorious Tinder Swindler.

Referring to the woman as Kate (not her real name), 9News says she met her prospective beau, Gabriel, on online dating site Zoosk. This was after she’d been talking to another man on the same dating site who was clearly just out to scam her.

Gabriel, who claimed he was an engineer from France but now found himself living in Melbourne, turned on his French charm to woo Kate, and the pair spent months talking about their lives and getting to know each other on a deeper level. Gabriel wanted to take things to the next level and move their conversation off of Zoosk and onto WhatsApp, but, not wanting to fall foul to another potential scam, Kate did her homework to find Gabriel on Facebook.

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Gabriel had clearly also done his homework too, and he expected Kate and whoever else he would manage to scam to search for him elsewhere online. So, he’d hacked into the Facebook account of the man he was impersonating, so it appeared the images he’d sent to Kate were in fact real and went back for years.

Believing he now had Kate where he wanted her, Gabriel then went about scamming her out of money. Previously claiming that he had two daughters and that his wife has passed away when they were young, Gabriel said he needed money once he’d flown back to London, where his daughters were allegedly staying with his mother and had to undergo surgery, because his bank put a block on his account.

He then asked for $5,000 to pay for tickets for himself and his two daughters to fly back to Australia, so that the three of them could spend Christmas with Kate. She sent him the money as cryptocurrency, which she’d been convinced to buy. Gabriel then said he got stuck in Singapore as his daughter had caught Covid, so he then needed more money to get more plane tickets back to Australia.

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Convinced he was actually coming, Kate waited at the airport for him to arrive, but he never showed. Not done scamming Kate out of money, Gabriel then claimed he’d been held up at customs at Melbourne Airport, where he was being asked for another $5,000 in tax for an antique piece of jewellery. Despite having her doubts, Kate still believed Gabriel was real and that he genuinely needed the money, so she sent another $1,750 to a bank account she was told belonged to a customs agent.

Fortunately, Kate’s bank picked up the transaction and contacted her to tell her the account she was depositing into had been picked up for fraudulent activity in the past, so put a halt on it. She says she still lost around $11,000 sending money to Gabriel and claimed it to be “a kick in the guts.”

Kate is by no means alone in her story of sending money to potential romantic partners but it perfectly highlights just how easy it can be to be convinced by someone to send them money, even if you think you’ve got your head screwed on.

The 7th – 11th November is Scams Awareness Week in Australia, which ScamWatch says is to encourage “you to learn ways to identify scams and take the time to check whether an offer or contact is genuine before you act on it.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Council says the sum of total losses in Australia as of August 2022 is over $381 million, a figure that already dwarves the $324 million figure reported in total losses in 2021. ScamWatch adds that we can expect the figure to actually be higher as “around one third of people who are scammed never tell anyone.”

If you’ve fallen foul to an online scam, or you want to know some of the warning signs to look out for, you can find all the information you need on the ACCC website.

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The post Australian Tinder Swindler Scams Melbourne Woman Out Of Thousands appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world, with the apparel industry accounting for ten percent of all global carbon emissions. With an overly saturated market of fast fashion, people are buying more than ever when it comes to clothing, and wearing it for fewer periods of time, meaning more and more clothes are ending up in landfill. And not to mention, the huge amounts of energy and water that are wasted to make clothes, as well as the huge CO2 emissions the fashion industry produces each year.

With climate change threatening our planet and our very existence, it’s more imperative than ever to make more sustainable and ethical choices when it comes to fashion. This means buying less, and when you do buy, buying garments that’ll last for years and that have been made with renewable and natural fabrics.

But it can be hard to know what brands to trust, as ‘sustainable’ has become a bit of a buzzword that many fashion brands are adapting into their vocabulary. Therefore, we’ve researched what brands are truly producing sustainable products and are dedicated to reducing their environmental impact in more than one way.

Features of men’s sustainable clothing

Sustainable clothing can be crafted from a variety of materials, with the most common being organic cotton. However, natural fibres and recycled fibres can also be used. Sustainable clothing is also usually made with less energy and water than traditional clothing-making methods.

The post 19 Best Sustainable Clothing Brands For Men 2022 appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

The following article was produced in partnership with Brutal Truth.

Men, let’s be brutally honest, how many of you actually go out of your way to invest in high-end skincare products? You don’t need to lie to us, we know you’re more likely to pick up a face wash or some shower gel when you’re doing your Monday night grocery shop. 

Normally, we’d encourage you to stop this habit, but now there is a skincare brand, stocked in your local supermarket, that is more than worthy of taking up a spot in your bathroom cabinet. Brutal Truth, is an Australian skincare brand that offers men an affordable and easily accessible range of skincare options, that will have you looking and feeling your best. 

Brutal Truth doesn’t try to use any fancy or technical jargon. We’re men, after all. We just want to know what it is and what it does. Which is why you’ll find simple and straightforward messaging on the packaging and no promises of it transporting you to a tropical oasis whilst floating on a bed of silk. 

The products Brutal Truth currently offers are what we would consider to be the modern man’s essentials. There’s no sign of any serums, toners or any other creams that you won’t understand how to use. 

Instead, you can choose from an antiperspirant, in either roll-on or spray and in two distinct scents, alongside a shower gel, an all-in-one moisturiser with SPF15 – essential for Australians to look after their skin – a 3-in-1 face, hair and body wash for those men who really want to simplify their shower routine, a facial cleanser and a shaving gel. 

Available scents include Clean & Crisp and Rustic & Woody, making them perfect for daytime and evening wear, respectively. We understand men may not want to go to too much effort when getting ready for casual weekend drinks or an evening date, but trust us, your partner will appreciate it if your fragrance is in accordance with the weather and time of day. 

Aside from a range of products that just get the job done, Brutal Truth is all about supporting men’s health. The founding team of Brutal Truth understand all too well that men aren’t exactly the best at speaking up, despite the ever-growing awareness. 

So, while they don’t expect you to suddenly feel inclined to reveal your inner feelings to your mates after applying some of their moisturiser to your face, Brutal Truth has teamed up with Movember, one of the leading men’s health charities. The brand has teamed up with Coles and will be donating $1 from each Brutal Truth product purchased throughout the month of November which will go straight to supporting the important work of the Movember charity. 

Movember funds various men’s health programs and aims to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25% by 2030. 

You too, then, can help support the work of Movember at little cost to your back pocket, owing to the fact Brutal Truth is incredibly affordable, offering incredible bang for your buck.

Brutal Truth is currently available at Woolworths and Coles stores nationwide.

The post Brutal Truth Is The Australian Skincare Brand Making A Stand For Men’s Health appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

You could dress like you look a million dollars, but if you don’t finish it off with a couple of sprays of one of the best colognes, then your sweet threads could all go to waste. You want to smell as good as you look, gents.

The fact of the matter is, a great-smelling men’s cologne can be the difference between you receiving a compliment or being ignored entirely.

But with such a plethora of scents available for men, choosing a cologne that’s right for you and your skin can often be easier said than done.

In order to find the best of the best smelling men’s fragrance, you would need to spend a good few hours testing every single one, but eventually, your nose will become immune to the scents and you won’t be able to take full advantage of the choice on offer.

How one smells says a lot about who one is, especially in a world where first impressions mean everything. Some people will choose a different scent every time they purchase a new bottle, some may like to stick to a particular label, and there are even those who choose one fragrance forever – a scent they feel defines them as a person.

The colognes and fragrances for men featured below are literally some of the nicest smelling on the market, produced using a mix of rare and original ingredients, so that you stand out for all the right reasons – and don’t smell like every other guy on the street.

So if you’re after a truly unique scent that will have people u-turning just to grab another pleasurable whiff, then check out the best cologne for men below.

The post 20 Best Colognes & Fragrances Australia | Tested By Our Editors [2022] appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms Inc, the conglomerate that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced some 11,000 employees are set to be axed from the company. But, while unfortunate for those affected, Zuck did at least admit he done f***ed up.

Claiming a fall in revenue to a changing market as being the main reason for the lay-offs at Meta, Mark Zuckerberg has publicly acknowledged he is the one responsible, saying “I got this wrong,” according to Bloomberg.

And, while it’s perhaps not surprising that Zuck himself has resigned as CEO, we feel that accepting fault and holding his hands up is something all business owners can learn from.

Of course, Meta isn’t the only huge technology company to lay-off staff in the past week or so (here’s looking at you, Elon) but rather than take the ruthless route the Tesla-founder appears to have taken at Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg has held his hands up.

Yahoo Finance adds Zuckerberg said in a statement on Wednesday 9th November, “I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,”

“I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.”

It’s also claimed that various restructuring processes will begin to occur at Meta, such as moving to desk-sharing. The lay-offs are said to be necessary due to a fall in revenue, primarily from digital ads (the company’s main source of income). Zuck added in his statement that he’d “anticipated the surge in e-commerce and web traffic from the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns would be part of a permanent acceleration,” Yahoo Finance says.

“But the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than expected. I got this wrong.”

Industry analysts say that one of the chief reasons among this fall in digital ad revenue is due to new software updates, particularly those ported to Apple iPhones, which prevent digital advertisers from pushing personalised ads to your social media feeds.

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A post shared by Bloomberg Businessweek (@businessweek)

In an Instagram post on Bloomberg’s Business Week account, announcing the news, many users have been quick to comment, and their views are divisive. One of the most-liked comments sings praise for Zuckerberg’s admission, “Admitting fault is a sign of a great leader.”

Although others have replied to this in disdain, “Get off your knees, John,” and “Admitting fault is a sign that you’re an adult, not a great leader.”

Mark Zuckerberg has also been investing billions – Spiked cites sources as saying it currently stands at $36 billion – into what he considered to be the next generation of communication, the Metaverse; a digital world that is accessed via virtual reality headsets. But so far, Metaverse has failed to live up to Zuck’s lofty expectations, and it’s even been claimed Meta’s own staff hate using it.

Other users commenting on the Business Week Instagram post cite this as another reason for the high number of job cuts.

“No he just tried to change the entire business to something that isn’t even proven to work or will even be popular which is the metaverse.”

“Yes he got it wrong but a big part of this was the stupid decision to change the business at its core and yes the economy had an effect but a large part of this is because he made this stupid change to meta.”

While others think Mark’s admission and honesty don’t mean s**t.

“Sorry to say but this has become a trend now. Employees pay the price for decisions taken by the ceo and they casually tell sorry as if it’s they are the ones getting fired.”

It harks back to another CEO, Braden Wallake, who got roasted on LinkedIn after he posted an image of himself crying, accompanying an announcement that his company, HyperSocial, also had to lay-off some of its staff and who also took the blame.

Thousands of comments were posted on Braden’s post, many of which were negative, claiming Braden wasn’t taking enough accountability, wasn’t offering enough help to the fired employees and was simply just looking for sympathy from his fellow LinkedIn users.

Perhaps the response to Mark Zuckerberg’s admission could have been a whole lot worse had he shed a few tears?

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The post The One Thing Every Business Owner Can Learn From Facebook Lay-Offs appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Germany has reportedly seized as much as $5 million worth of fine art from a Russian superyacht, after it was impounded in Hamburg earlier this year.

The $600 million superyacht – named Dilbar –  is the world’s largest yacht and earlier this year, in April, Dilbar was seized by German officials after it was found its owner, Alisher Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs, had close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Dilbar is not the only Russian yacht to be impounded this year; one Russian yacht even attempted to change its name to flee sanctions in Barcelona.

But, back to Dilbar. The German government is said to have taken 30 paintings, including works by French modernist Marc Chagall, with the full collection reportedly worth up to $5 million.

Mr Usmanov’s collection were being displayed on the 511-feet long boat, until the superyacht initially came to the German city of Hamburg in Autumn 2021, seeking repairs. The paintings were then moved to a separate depot.

But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ship was seized in April 2022 and Usmanov was hit with a wave of Western sanctions. The German government declared that Mr Usmanov was supposed to declare all belongings and property, including his valuable art collection, but the 69-year-old billionaire never did.

It got worse for Mr Usmanov than simply losing his yacht though. In September, Germany announced that it would also be investigating him for tax evasion and money laundering, carrying out searches of the Munich and Frankfurt branches of Swiss Bank UBS.

It’s believed the billionaire owes the government $550 million in taxes.

Alisher Usmenov’s homes were also raided, including his villa on Tegernsee Lake in Bavaria, where officials found four rare Russian Faberge eggs, worth over $30 million.

These eggs are made by jewellery firm House of Faberge in imperial Russia, between 1885 and 1917 – only 57 of them are believed to still be in existence today.

Mr Usmenov is believed to be residing in his native Uzbekistan, at the time of the raids on his homes.

But, let’s be honest, the sanctions likely won’t hurt the Russian; his assets are estimated to be worth a crazy $11.5 billion by Forbes.

With that much money, the Russian can probably just buy another one.

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The post Germans Allegedly Swipe $5 Million of Art From Russian Superyacht appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Daniel Ricciardo has one of Formula One’s most radial and infectious personalities, but his struggles with McLaren over the last two years have driven the Australian to see a psychologist.

The fan-favourite is set to leave McLaren at the end of the 2022 F1 season, and may even become a Mercedes reserve driver before eyeing up a return to the sport in 2024.

But, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Ricciardo admitted that the last two years in the sport have taken a significant mental toll, to the point he was not his “usual bubbly self.”

As such, the eight-time Grand Prix winner decided to seek help.

“I started to speak to a psychologist last year,” he revealed, “I was neglecting friendships and thought it would be good to talk to someone to make sure the two sides of my life didn’t cross over.”

“It was hard to remove yourself from what was happening in the racing.”

Not the first to open up

Daniel Ricciardo is not the first men’s sports star to talk openly about his struggles with mental health.

NBA All-star Kevin Love has previously discussed how beneficial speaking with a therapist was for his mental wellbeing. The most successful Olympian of all time Michael Phelps has also admitted that he struggled with anxiety and depression before seeking professional help. Ricciardo’s McLaren team mate, Lando Norris, has also spoken about his mental battles, signifying that even the much younger generation can always do with an ear to open up to.

All four athletes are prime examples of how internal struggles can affect those who, on the face of things, look like they are at the pinnacle of their career.

Perhaps the mort important takeaway from Ricciardo’s admission, is that there really should be no stigma in regard to speaking with a psychologist. If some of the world’s best sports stars require, and subsequently seek professional help, then surely that’s a clear sign that we as ‘regular’ people could also stand to benefit from some professional help.

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The Australian F1 driver intends to distance himself from the sport next season but plans to “stay in touch.” He said, “It’s about getting enough space to rebuild myself. I don’t want to get too deep.”

“I am not on a voyage of self-discovery, but taking some time off, going on some journeys and adventures, will help.”

Here’s hoping the Honey Badger can make a winning return to Formula One in the future.

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The post Daniel Ricciardo’s Mental Health Admission Is A Lesson For Australian Blokes appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

A man has been charged with speeding in his Volkswagen Golf, which allegedly was travelling at a crazy 280km/h down the Hume Highway.

According to Drive, the 22-year-old driver was caught near Mittagong – approximately an hour south of Sydney –  at 9.30am on 7 November 2022, with his car travelling 170km/h – or 2 1/2 times – over the 110km/h speed limit of the Hume Highway.

Police officers directed the vehicle to pull over and spoke with the young NSW resident, before taking his driver’s license off of him on the spot. The Daily Mail adds the man, an international student, claimed he was driving at such high speed because he was “late for work.”

The owner of the Golf has since posted on the VW Golf Facebook page owning up to his error. He said, “It was me. I got a 3 year disqualification on the spot and got charged with 45+km over and negligent driving, and furiously dangerously driving manner.”

“My car was towed home bu t my number plates were taken for a period of 6 months and so is my registration.”

Going over 45km/h the speed limit carries a fine of $3300 and a minimum six-month license suspension, so we can assume the driver was also handed the steep fine.

On top of this, the driver was also charged with dangerous driving, which carries a range of penalties, from a $2200 fine and a 12-month license suspension all the way to nine to 12 months in jail.

The driver is scheduled to appear in Moss Vase Local Courts on 20 December 2022, after being issued with a Court Attendance Notice.

Clearly, it was no ordinary Volkswagen Golf R that the young hooligan was driving. Believed to be the Mk7 variant of the German marque’s hot hatch, it has its speed limited to 250 km/h. So for the apprehended car to be travelling 280 km/h, it is likely to have had the limiter removed and potentially have had other modifications fitted.

And what better testing ground than the Hume Highway, an 840 km stretch of road connecting Sydney and Melbourne.

While it’s obviously stupid and not something we condone, it is also pretty impressive the Golf R was able to reach such a speed. But, what we’re even more impressed with, is that the NSW police BMW was able to catch up to, and pull over the wannabe racer.

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The post Driver Busted Doing 280 km/h Down Hume Highway, Gets 3-Year Driving Ban appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

We live in a stressful world where we’re expected to be ‘on’ and online all the time – and in such a world, wearing a mechanical watch is a quiet act of rebellion and an underrated mindfulness hack.

There’s never been a better time to be into watches. Watchmaking might be a centuries-old art form but in 2022, leaps and bounds continue to be made and watchmakers continue to push the boundaries with what you can do with mechanical timekeeping. Interest in watches is at an all-time high: as tools, as status symbols, as alternative asset classes… It’s rather amazing.

At the same time, smartwatches continue to carve out more and more of the watch market. Smartwatches now represent around 15% of all watch sales, with that trend only likely to increase. Smartwatches have never been more capable, comfortable or socially acceptable.

Indeed, if we’re talking about mindfulness, one of the major selling points of many modern smartwatches is how many health-related apps and functions they have. They can track your heart rate to monitor your stress levels or guide you through yoga or meditation routines… You could also argue that because they’re so convenient; so functional, they make your life easier and therefore are inherently good for your health.

However, I’d like to make the case that wearing a mechanical watch over a smartwatch is actually much better for one’s health – or at the very least, better for one’s mental health.

I recently decided to swap my mechanical watch for a smartwatch for a month, just to see ‘how the other half live’. I’d never previously been much of a fan of smartwatches (I find having to charge and update a smartwatch far more of a hassle than winding a watch, but that’s because I’m weird) but I actually rather enjoyed my smartwatch sea change.

There are undoubtedly myriad reasons why smartwatches are superior to mechanical watches. Just as even the most precise mechanical watches are nowhere near as accurate as most quartz watches, any smartwatch (or phone) will be more accurate than a quartz watch – so if time-telling accuracy is your goal, smartwatches are the clear winner.

That’s before we start going into all the things a smartwatch can do that a mechanical watch cannot even try to replicate, like answering phone calls, tracking your heart rate, summoning virtual assistants… Mechanical watches are not really ‘functional’ in the same way that a smartwatch is.

Yet mechanical watches also have their advantages, and I’ll always prefer wearing a mechanical watch to a smartwatch. As alluded to above, you don’t need to worry about running out of charge with a mechanical watch – just wind it. Or, if it’s automatic and you wear it frequently, you’ve got essentially perpetual charge.

There’s also something to be said about the subtlety of a mechanical watch. Something I find frustrating with my smartwatch is that if I want to check the time, the screen goes from black to lit up – meaning there’s no hiding when you’re looking at your watch. It makes it hard for you to check the time subtlety, which isn’t a problem when you’ve got a mechanical watch.

While being able to receive alerts and notifications through your smartwatch is one of the main reasons people wear them, I also find that sometimes it’s a bit of a bother; one you won’t get with a mechanical watch.

The modern expectation to be always online can be pretty toxic to one’s mental health. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to switch off, and mechanical watches, in some small way, let you do that – whereas smartwatches only enable and worsen that always online problem.

Approaching real wanker territory here: I suppose my biggest problem with smartwatches is that they’re simply just products. They’re disposable: just as you upgrade your phone after a few years, you upgrade your smartwatch.

Whereas when you wear a mechanical watch – especially a nice one – you’re wearing a piece of art. Perhaps that’s what’s so ‘mindful’ about mechanical watches: in a world where technology and tools are increasingly disposable, watches stand out as things to be cherished, maintained and looked after.

Or maybe I’m just a Luddite whose monkey brain just likes ticking clocks. Either way.

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The post Wearing A Mechanical Watch Is An Underrated Mindfulness Hack appeared first on DMARGE Australia.