The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has published a report stating that Australians have incurred an unprecedented loss of $3.1 billion due to scams in 2022.
The increase in hacks has prompted government agencies, law enforcement, and private sectors to intensify their collaborative efforts to combat these fraudulent activities and provide assistance to the community.
The statistics suggest that investment scams were responsible for the most significant financial losses, amounting to $1.5 billion. The subsequent highest losses were recorded in remote access scams ($229 million) and payment redirection scams ($224 million).
Although there was a decline of 16.5% in the number of scam reports received by Scamwatch last year, with 239,237 reports filed, the financial losses reported in 2022 amounted to over $569 million, indicating a sharp rise of 76% as compared to the losses reported in the preceding year.
In 2022, vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians suffered significant financial losses, as reported by Scamwatch. Individuals with disabilities were hit particularly hard, with their reported losses amounting to $33.7 million – a stark increase of 71% compared to 2021.
As per the data collected by Scamwatch, small and micro-businesses faced a loss of $13.7 million to crypto scams in 2022, which is a staggering 95% rise compared to the previous year. Payment redirection scams, also called business email compromise, were the main cause behind this. Additionally, there was an overall increase of 73% in scam losses for Australian businesses last year, totaling $23.2 million.
Catriona Lowe, the Deputy Chair of ACCC, stated that “Australians lost more money to scams than ever before in 2022, but the true cost of scams is much more than a dollar figure as they also cause emotional distress to victims, their families and businesses.”
There has been a remarkable upsurge in reported losses linked to phishing scams in recent times, especially the “Hi Mum” and Toll/Linkt text scams. These scams experienced an astonishing increase of 469% in 2022, resulting in overall losses amounting to $24.6 million, she added.
Lowe stated that it is crucial for the Australian government, law enforcement, and private organizations to enhance their collaborations to more effectively combat the scams and reduce their numbers.
Also Read: Australian Parliament Receives a Private Bill to Regulate Crypto
