There was some good news in the latest quarterly report from the ACCC's National Anti-Scams Centre (NASC). The ACCC saw a 43% drop in financial losses linked to scams reported to Scamwatch from October to December 2023 compared to the same quarter in 2022. And reports to Scamwatch decreased 14% in the last three months of 2023 compared to the previous three months.
But for a country of around 25 million, the raw numbers remain disturbingly high – we're still getting taken in on a grand scale. Australians lodged 67,116 reports with Scamwatch just in the final quarter of 2023, recording losses of $82.1 million.
Of the $3.1 billion in scam losses reported to eight organisations in 2022, only $569.5 million were reported to Scamwatch
And these are only the reported losses, which is likely just a fraction of how much Australians have relinquished to the shadow world of faceless criminals in recent months. Of the $3.1 billion in scam losses reported to eight organisations in 2022, for instance, only $569.5 million were reported to Scamwatch.
So, while the news of a reduction in reported losses may be encouraging, it is incomplete. And the scammers may just be hiding out elsewhere.
Scammers turning to social media
The big outtake from the latest NASC report is how scammers have further commandeered our social media platforms. It appears to be the new frontier.
Of the $82.1 million in stolen funds reported to Scamwatch from October through December 2023, $15.9 million was linked to scams that started on digital platforms – which overwhelmingly means Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) and Google.
But it's mostly Meta.
It's disappointing that digital platforms are still refusing to come to the table to stop scammers exploiting their tools to steal from people
CHOICE senior campaigns and policy adviser Alex Soderlund
The financial losses reported to Scamwatch in all of 2023 – that were engineered by scammers who infiltrated social media sites – amounted to $95 million, a 249% increase compared to 2020. And 76% of those losses happened because victims clicked on a scam ad on a Meta-owned platform.
"It's disappointing that digital platforms are still refusing to come to the table to stop scammers exploiting their tools to steal from people," says CHOICE senior campaigns and policy adviser, Alex Soderlund.
The platforms have made promises about preventing scammers from hijacking their sites in recent years, but the hijacking continues.
'A perverse incentive'
In September 2023 we published the results of an investigation that uncovered numerous scam ads impersonating some of Australia's most popular retailers, including Country Road, Peter Alexander, Seed Heritage, Decjuba, Lorna Jane, Sportsgirl and Kathmandu.
Who let the scammers in? None other than Google, Facebook and Instagram.
Only strong mandatory rules to prevent scams developed and enforced by a regulator will result in any meaningful change for consumers
CHOICE senior campaigns and policy adviser Alex Soderlund
Soderlund says it's time for the platforms to find a way to quit doing business with criminals. "Big tech companies have a perverse incentive not to act on scams because they generate advertising revenue, so it's clear that only strong mandatory rules to prevent scams developed and enforced by a regulator will result in any meaningful change for consumers."
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