Australians could lose up to $4bn this year because of scams

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said this would be double the $2 billion lost last year.

by | 7 Nov, 2022

Payment redirection scams cost businesses $14m last year: ACCC

Already this year, the ACCC’s Scamwatch has received more than 166,000 reports, a 90 per cent increase in losses to $424.8 million over the same period last year.

But these numbers vastly understate real losses as only about 13 per cent of victims report to Scamwatch.

This week is Scams Awareness Week and the ACCC is aiming to empower people to be alert to the risk of being scammed and consciously look for red flags.

Over 350 private sector, not-for-profit, and government organisations are partnering with Scamwatch for the week.

“With millions of Australians more vulnerable to scams following the recent spate of large-scale data breaches, there has never been a more important time to know the tell-tale signs of a scammer,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said.

“We know scammers are relentlessly targeting Australians. Research commissioned by the ACCC shows that 96 per cent of the population was exposed to a scam in the five years to 2021. Half of the survey’s respondents were contacted weekly or daily by scammers, a figure expected to rise given current cyber security concerns.

“Scammers evolve quickly, and their tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated and unscrupulous. There have been hundreds of reports to Scamwatch in the weeks after the recent high profile data breaches and that is expected to continue.

“Cyber criminals have capitalised on the data breach by impersonating government departments and businesses to carry out identity theft and remote access scams.

“While there is a great deal of work underway to disrupt scammers, our best defence against these types of scams is education. We want Australians to know what to look for, so they don’t get caught out.”

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