According to the latest figures released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, of which $1.5 billion was lost to investment scams. Losses have increased by 80 per cent compared with the figures reported last year. Actual losses are still much higher than reported!

Australians are losing a record number of people to fraud

While investment scams remained at the top of the list, Australians also lost $229 million to remote access scams and $224 million to payment redirection scams. Interestingly, traditional bank transfers are still one of the most common payment methods used by scammers.

This record number comes from data compiled from complaints received by Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crime Exchange (AFCX), IDCARE and other government agencies. This is the confirmed loss, while the actual number is still much higher.

"Australians lost more money to scams in 2022 than ever before, but the true cost of scams goes far beyond the monetary, as they also cause emotional distress to victims, their families and businesses," ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.

Scammers become sophisticated

The number of fraud reports received by Scamwatch fell 16.5 percent last year to 239,237. However, financial losses increased 76 per cent to more than $569 million. The report highlights that losses per victim jumped 50 per cent last year to an average of nearly $20,000.

Scammers have become sophisticated over the years, using technology to lure and defraud victims. Many even impersonate regulators and law enforcement agencies to extort money.

"We've seen shocking new tactics emerge that make scams exceptionally difficult to detect. This includes everything from websites that impersonate official phone numbers, email addresses, and legitimate organizations to scam texts that appear in the same conversation thread as real messages. This means that it is now easier than ever for anyone to fall victim to a scam, "Lowe added.

Disadvantaged communities are the primary targets

The ACCC report further highlighted that "vulnerable or distressed" Australians reported record losses. Financial losses for people with disabilities increased by 71 per cent to $33.7 million, while losses for the indigenous population increased by 5 per cent to $5.1 million.

In addition, Australia's culturally and linguistically diverse communities reported 11,418 fraud cases with a loss of $56 million, an annual increase of 36 per cent. Small and micro businesses, mainly targeting payment redirection scams, reported losses soaring 95 per cent to $13.7 million.

"We are extremely concerned that those who are vulnerable continue to be disproportionately affected by scams," Lowe said. "Our report shows that across all types of scams, people from different cultural and linguistic groups are significantly overrepresented in terms of financial losses, accounting for more than a quarter (27.9 percent) of the total losses associated with identity theft and about a third (32.7 percent) of the total losses associated with Ponzi schemes."