Australians were fleeced of just under half a billion dollars last year, according to new figures from Scamwatch, but there are promising signs a crackdown is working.
A total of $477 million was lost, with more than $82 million of that in the last three months of 2023, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) data has revealed.
Authorities have warned of a huge spike in social media scams targeting older people with those aged over 65 recording the highest losses of any age group.
The scams often involved fake ads or impersonation of online retailers and once a victim had paid no goods arrived.
For all of 2023, social media scams took $95 million from victims, with almost half taking place on the messaging platform Whatsapp, one in five over Facebook, followed by dating sites and Instagram.
Tech giant Meta owns Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram and has been heavily criticised for scams flourishing on its platforms.
The ABC contacted Meta for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Last year, the company said, “We’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of our services, and dedicate substantial resources and technology solutions to protect our community from fake accounts and other inauthentic behaviour.
“We have a dedicated reporting channel to take in all content that the ACCC is concerned about,” a Meta spokesperson said.
The Scamwatch report showed people continued to be bombarded by dodgy texts, fake emails and sham phone calls that tricked them into forking over money.
Last week the ABC revealed concerns about a long-running text message scam that had taken more than $6 million from HSBC customers.
Tough new approach ‘making a difference’
The report also showed year-on-year losses dropping by $92 million, especially for investment scams, while quarterly figures showed losses had plunged more than 40 per cent on the same period in 2022.
The key areas that showed improvement included;
- Investment scam losses decreasing by 38 per cent to $52.4 million
- Crypto losses decreasing by 74 per cent to $12.4 million
- Bank transfer losses decreasing by 31 per cent to $40.2 million
The federal government claimed the figures showed its tough new approach on scams was disrupting criminal schemes and beginning to stem losses which recently reached record highs.
Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said he was “cautiously optimistic” that Australia had “turned a corner”.
“We’re very very hopeful the sorts of strategies we are deploying are working,” he said.
“We’re doing fake investment website take downs … real time information sharing when a scam is detected … friction in the off ramps from Australian bank accounts into crypto currency exchanges.
“I wouldn’t point to anyone of these measures that is working, but I think collectively they are making a difference.”
The government has also created the National Anti-Scam Centre which is run by the ACCC and works with key players in government, industry, law enforcement and consumer groups to target emerging scams.
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