Australians Lost a Record Amount of Over $3 Billion to Scams in 2022

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealed that Aussies lost more than $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, higher than the $2 billion reported in 2021.

The Targeting Scams report gathered data from ReportCyber, Scamwatch, money remitters and major banks and based their findings on the analysation of over 500,000 reports.

Our latest Targeting Scams report has revealed Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, an 80 per cent increase on total losses recorded in 2021.

Read the full report here: https://t.co/wQUBllKsqO pic.twitter.com/rTlokEjLwZ

— Scamwatch_gov_au (@Scamwatch_gov) April 17, 2023

Australians suffered a huge financial loss of $1.5 billion to investment fraud when compared to other types of scams. The elderly continue to lose more money in comparison to any other age group in Australia. Those aged 65 and above submitted most reports (49,163) and lost a staggering $120.7 million. However, individuals from 35 to 44 years of age reported the highest upsurge in losses of $91.2 million.

According to the ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe, Australians have lost more money to fraudulent activities in 2022, but the actual cost of scams is more than monetary loss. It has badly impacted the emotional well-being of targets, their families, and businesses.

Communities with cultural and linguistic diversity were over-represented in monetary losses across different types of scams. According to the report, over 27.9% of total losses were linked to identity theft and roughly 32.7% to pyramid schemes.

The actual amount of financial losses from scams is predicted to be greater than the registered $3.1B figure as 30% of victims didn’t report and just 13% notified Scamwatch.

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