In a worrying trend, Australian authorities have received more than 500,000 reports of scams in 2022, resulting in reported losses of more than $3.1 billion, according to a report compiled by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The report reveals that investment scams were the most financially damaging, causing losses of more than $1.5 billion.
This was followed by remote access scams, with reported losses of $229 million, primarily targeting older Australians.
Scamwatch, which received 239,237 of these reports, observed a 16.5% decrease in the number of reports compared to 2021 data.
However, the financial losses reported increased by 75.9% to exceed $569 million in 2022.
The actual losses are believed to be much higher, as only 13% of victims reported the scams to Scamwatch, while, 30% of victims did not report the scams to anyone.
Investment scams - most damaging
Investment scams were responsible for more than 66% of all financial losses reported to Scamwatch, up from 55% in 2021.
Scamwatch received in excess of 9,360 reports of investment scams, with reported losses increasing 112.9% to more than $377 million.
The most common payment method for investment scams was cryptocurrency ($137.6 million), followed by bank transfer ($99 million).
Phishing – most commonly reported
Phishing was the most commonly reported scam in 2022, with Scamwatch receiving 74,573 reports, a 4.6% increase from the previous year.
Financial losses from phishing scams increased 469% from $4.3 million in 2021 to $24.6 million in 2022.
Most phishing scams were sent as text messages, with text-based phishing scams resulting in the highest reported losses of $8.8 million.
Job and employment scams - targeting young people
Job and employment scams caused financial losses of $9.6 million, with young people being the most affected.
Reports decreased by 2% to 3,383, but the average loss increased by 259.4% to $14,963.
Most financial losses were experienced by people who were contacted on social media ($3.2 million) or via mobile applications like WhatsApp ($3.2 million).
Remote access scams- targeting older generation
Remote access scams remained a significant threat, with combined reported losses of $229 million in 2022.
Scamwatch received 11,792 reports of remote access scams, resulting in reported losses increasing 32.6% to $21.7 million.
The average loss was $17,328, and the median loss was $5,000.
People aged 65 and above reported losing the most money to these scams, with losses of $9.2 million reported.
