Aussies Bombarded With Scams in 2022 – ACCC Report

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported Aussies as the top target of scammers, with $526,292,444 lost to fraud, in the year 2022. 

According to the ACCC’s Scamwatch, more than 215,000 frauds were reported in 2022 with 12.2% of them resulting in monetary losses.

The country witnessed March as the worst period for scams last year with over $95 million in losses.

Investment fraud topped the list with more than $351 million in losses followed by dating, romance, and phishing scams.

Surprisingly, Australians were the ones most frequently targetted by scammers via text messages with over 69,000 reports, while those who were tragetted through the phone call suffered the maximum cash losses reaching $130 million.

People aged 65 and older suffered the greatest financial losses of over $130 million followed by those aged 55 to 64 who lost $90 million, and those aged 35 and 44 lost $85 million.

More women than men claimed to have fallen victim to scams, but men were far more susceptible to losing money as a result.

Men lost a combined total of more than $250 million while women lost $211 million. About 50.2% of women, contrary to 47.4% of men, claimed to be the victim of scams.

Those in New South Wales were the most frequently targetted and suffered the biggest losses, followed by Victoria and Queensland.

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