Last year was somewhat less painful for scam victims than previous years, but it was certainly no picnic.
There was a 13% decline in losses reported by various cybersecurity agencies in 2023 compared to 2022, but those losses still added up to a hefty $2.74 billion.
According to the most recent full-year report from the ACCC's National Anti-Scam Centre, a lot more people reported scams in 2023 than the previous year, which may indicate that while scammers are trying just as hard to take our money, consumers are becoming more wary and more likely to report a scam rather than fall for it.
But while total scam losses are down, the ACCC report revealed some groups are still being disproportionately impacted.
2023 scam trends
Older Australians continue to lose more
Data from the ACCC's Scamwatch platform reveals that people aged 65 and over were the only cohort to report higher losses in 2023 than 2022. Those losses, which often followed contact with a scammer on social media, increased by 13.3% to $120 million.
"Reports to Scamwatch indicate scammers are targeting older Australians with retirement savings, who may be looking for investment opportunities," says ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe, citing a recent case where an elderly woman lost her life savings after seeing a deepfake Elon Musk video on social media.
Scammers are targeting older Australians with retirement savings, who may be looking for investment opportunities
ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe
After clicking the link and registering her details online, the woman was assigned a 'financial adviser'. As CHOICE has reported in a similar case, the woman could track her investments on an online dashboard set up by the scammer and see that she was apparently making returns.
The only thing she couldn't do was withdraw her money.
Scam texts the most common contact
The Scamwatch data showed that, while text messages were the most common form of contact, scam calls resulted in the highest losses, followed by losses to scammers hijacking social media platforms.
Investment scams leading to the highest losses
As with previous years, investment scams accounted for the biggest losses in 2023, totalling $1.3 billion. This was followed by remote access scams, which saw Australians robbed of $256 million, and romance scams, where over $201 million in losses were reported.
Job scams on the rise
Another big takeaway from the Scamwatch data is job scams. Losses to people posing as potential employers jumped over 150% in 2023, and people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities were disproportionately affected.
Australians 65 and older were the only group to report an increase in scam losses in 2023.
Combined effort reducing total scam losses
The ACCC report compiles scam activity recorded by the ACCC's Scamwatch as well as ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange, IDCARE and ASIC.
The ACCC's Catriona Lowe says the inter-agency coordination is starting to have the intended effect.
It is encouraging to see signs that our coordinated scam prevention, detection and disruption initiatives can stem the flow of funds to criminals and protect consumers
ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe
"It is encouraging to see signs that our coordinated scam prevention, detection and disruption initiatives can stem the flow of funds to criminals and protect consumers," Lowe says, adding that the marketplace regulator is "optimistic that our combined efforts will continue to reduce scam losses".
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones struck a similar note, saying "this report shows that our plan is working, but every dollar lost to a scam is a tragedy and we will continue to roll out our anti-scam program".
CHOICE calls for stronger laws to protect consumers
CHOICE senior campaigns and policy adviser Alex Söderlund says the ACCC's report shows there is more work to be done to protect Australian consumers from scams.
"What businesses are currently doing is far from enough," she says. "Scams in key areas like social media are still increasing, and these big tech companies – who have the knowledge and means to protect people – must also increase their efforts, instead of facilitating scammers' criminal activity.
Consumers are still bearing the cost of scams, whereas the businesses facilitating the criminal activity of scammers face virtually no consequences
CHOICE senior campaigns and policy adviser Alex Söderlund
"Consumers are still bearing the cost of scams, whereas the businesses facilitating the criminal activity of scammers face virtually no consequences.
"It's clear that these businesses won't do more unless the government makes them, which is why strong, mandatory and enforced codes, with a clear pathway for reimbursing victims, are so important."
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