The latest Australian Anti-Fraud Centre report revealed that Australians still lost a whopping $2.3 billion in scams last year, despite a 13.1 per cent reduction in losses compared to the previous year, and the number of scams reported to authorities increased by 18.5 per cent. This is a wary indication that the tactics employed by scammers are changing.
Investment fraud remains the main cause of the worst financial losses, with Australians reporting a loss of $1.3 billion, according to Australian media on April 28.
This was followed by remote access scams, which resulted in a loss of $256 million, and romance scams, which resulted in a loss of $201.1 million.
Among these numbers, one group of people is particularly vulnerable: people aged 65 and over.
Not only did this age group report an increase in losses, rising 13.3% to $120 million, but it was also disproportionately hit when it came to investment fraud.
The new trend of social media as a breeding ground for fraud is highlighted in the report.
Many victims have reported that the interactions they initiated on these platforms have resulted in significant losses. SMS became the most common form of contact, with the number of reports increasing by 37.3% from last year to 109,621.
However, scam calls resulted in the highest losses of $116 million. Meanwhile, scams triggered by social media interactions caused the second-highest losses, rising 16.5% to $93.5 million.
In addition, people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds find themselves disproportionately targeted by job scams. Shoulder to shoulder with people looking for part-time work or extra income to ease financial stress, they are more susceptible to scams.
In response to these worrying trends, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones reiterated the Government's commitment to fighting crime, acknowledging the positive signals reflected in the report, and also stressed the importance of continuing to be vigilant for Australians, urging that any suspicious activity be reported in a timely manner.
In response, the Vice-Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Ketrina Lowe, also expressed optimism about the coordinated efforts to prevent, detect and combat fraud. She highlighted the potential of collaborative initiatives to reduce financial losses and protect consumers.
"We are optimistic that our joint efforts will continue to reduce fraud losses. We will continue this important work because the losses are still too high and behind these numbers are living people who have lost money to fraud. ”
Looking ahead, Lowe highlighted the importance of a robust scam code framework that enforces strict obligations on banks, telcos, and digital platforms. She believes that such a move would eliminate weaknesses that scammers exploit.
In addition, she stressed the importance of data and intelligence sharing and said that progress has been made in sending data to the National Anti-Fraud Center.
"Good data and intelligence sharing is also key, and we will increase the number of parties sending data to the National Anti-Fraud Centre and make good progress. ”