Australia’s scam losses decline amid continued threat

The National Anti-Scam Centre reported a 13.1% reduction in scam losses, with a total of $2.74 billion in 2023, according to its “Targeting Scams” report.

This decrease is attributed to coordinated efforts by government entities, law enforcement, consumer organisations, and industry groups to combat financial crime.

The report consolidated data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX), IDCARE, and the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

Increase in scam reports in Australia in 2023

Despite the overall decrease in losses, the report showed an 18.5% increase in scam reports compared to 2022, with Australians filing over 601,000 reports.

Investment scams caused the most financial harm ($1.3 billion), followed by remote access scams ($256 million) and romance scams ($201.1 million).

Why did Australia’ scam losses decline in 2023?

The decline in losses is attributed to targeted disruption activities across various sectors.

“It is encouraging to see signs that our coordinated scam prevention, detection, and disruption initiatives can stem the flow of funds to criminals and protect consumers,” said Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) deputy chair Catriona Lowe. “We are optimistic that our combined efforts will continue to reduce scam losses.

“We will continue this important work because losses remain too high and behind the numbers are real people who have lost money, often every last cent, to scams.”

Lowe emphasised the importance of a Scams Code Framework with enforceable obligations on banks, telcos, and digital platforms to mitigate scam losses further.

“Good data and intel sharing is also key, and we will be adding to the number of parties sending data into the National Anti-Scams Centre having made good progress on sending data out,” she said.

Scam trends in Australia

The report highlighted emerging scam trends, despite the overall decline in losses. Key trends include the following:

• Individuals over 65 experienced a 13.3% increase in losses, primarily due to investment scams.
• Text messages accounted for 109,621 reports, a 37.3% increase from 2022. However, scam calls resulted in the highest financial losses at $116 million, followed by social media scams at $93.5 million (a 16.5% increase).
• Financial losses from job scams increased by 151.2% to $24.3 million. People from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and those seeking part-time work were disproportionately impacted.

Lowe cautioned against the sophisticated tactics employed by scammers. She emphasised the need for continued collaboration to centralise intelligence and distribute information.

“We will partner with other organisations to tackle the most harmful scams, and we will continue to raise scams awareness with the people who are most at-risk as we work towards our common goal of making Australia a harder target for scammers,” she said.

The Targeting Scams report covers the calendar year from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023, incorporating data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, IDCARE, ASIC, and AFCX, with adjustments made to avoid duplication and remove unreliable high-loss reports.

Earlier this month, the ACCC raised the alarm over a rise in financial losses attributed to payment redirection scams.