Brazen scams put everyone - even you - at risk

Australians lost a shocking 3.1 billion dollars to scams last year – but the real figure is likely to be higher, as not all are reported. ACCC says scams are becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot, with victims suffering significant losses – at times, their life savings – as a result.

Is that call a genuine one? Source: Getty / Calvin Chan Wai Meng

People aged 65 and over made the most reports to Scamwatch last year – as well as reporting the highest losses.

More than 500 thousand scam reports were received last year – totalling a staggering 3.1 billion dollars in losses.

That’s an 80 per cent increase on the total losses recorded in 2021.

The most common type of scams were related to investments, accounting for financial losses of 1.5 billion dollars.

Other types of scams in the top five include remote access, payment redirection, romance, and also stealing data through malware sent through emails or text messages.

The top contact method used by scammers last year was text message – accounting for 33 per cent of reports.

Phone came in second.

Then email.

While internet and social networks each accounted for 6 per cent of reports.

ACCC says there are simple things consumers can do to help protect themselves, such as not clicking on links in text messages, taking their time to question the validity of a call or message, and quickly notifying their bank if something feels wrong.

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