ACCC report reveals a worrying trend.

 

Australians lost a record $3.1 billion to scams in 2022, an 80 per cent increase on total losses recorded in 2021, according to the ACCC’s latest Targeting Scams report.

 

The report compiles data reported to the ACCC’s Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX), IDCARE and other government agencies.

 

It shows that investment scams were the highest loss category ($1.5 billion), followed by remote access scams ($229 million) and payment redirection scams ($224 million).

 

“Australians lost more money to scams than ever before in 2022, but the true cost of scams is much more than a dollar figure as they also cause emotional distress to victims, their families and businesses,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.

 

Scamwatch received 239,237 scam reports last year, a 16.5 per cent drop on the number of reports received in 2021.

 

Scamwatch data shows that small and micro businesses lost $13.7 million to scams in 2022, a 95 per cent increase compared to the previous year. 

 

The biggest contributor to these losses were payment redirection scams, also known as business email compromise.

 

More broadly, there was a 73 per cent increase in scam losses across the Australian business community last year, totalling $23.2 million.