Small businesses lost $2.5 million to scams between 1 January and 30 June, the ACCC has said.
The watchdog’s report indicated small businesses are targeted with a range of scams including false billing scams, fake offers for website or IP renewal and even threats to ruin a business with negative online reviews unless a payment is made to the scammers via bitcoin.
Scamwatch data also shows that in 2019, business email compromise (BEC) scams continue to pose a threat with over $5.4 million reported lost so far this year. This represents a 42 per cent increase over total BEC losses reported to the ACCC in 2018.
BEC scams occur when a hacker gains access to a business’ email accounts, or ‘spoofs’ a business’ email so that their emails appear to come from within the company. The hacker then sends emails to customers claiming that the business’ banking details have changed and that future invoices should be paid to a new account.
Earlier this month, the ACCC revealed that Australians are set to lose a record amount to scams in 2019, with projections of losses to scams expected to exceed $532 million by the end of the year.
“Many people are confident they would never fall for a scam, but often it’s this sense of confidence that scammers target,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard warned at the time.
In 2018, total combined losses reported to Scamwatch and other government agencies exceeded $489 million.
