The National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) has just published the final report of the job scam fusion cell, highlighting the combined efforts of government, law enforcement, academics, and the private sector in tackling the rise in job and employment scams.

In 2024, Scamwatch received more than 3000 reports of job scams, with reported losses totalling $13.7 million. Average losses to these scams were 5.1% higher than the average for all other scam types.

The NASC’s job scam fusion cell removed more than 29,000 scam social media accounts and 1850 fake job advertisements from September 2024 to March 2025

Job scams result in significant financial losses and put people at risk of identity theft. The scams disproportionately affect people on low incomes, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, international students, non-resident visa holders, people with caring responsibilities, and others with limited employment options.

What the job scams fusion cell has done

The job scams fusion cell:

  • worked with Meta to remove 29,000 accounts sharing job scam content
  • referred 836 scammer cryptocurrency wallets to digital currency exchanges for analysis and investigation, leading to blocking and blacklisting of wallets

referred 1850 scam enablers such as websites and scam job advertisements for removal

  • disrupted scammer impersonations of Australian Government entities, such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Home Affairs, and APSJobs
  • held awareness and prevention forums with organisations across the tertiary education sector to enable them to deliver scams awareness messaging
  • coordinated a social media campaign
  • created guides for businesses, including about how to protect themselves and the community
  • established data sharing arrangements with cryptocurrency platforms.

Be aware of job scams

Scammers advertise job opportunities so they can steal money and personal information. Stop and check any job ad that requires you paying money to make money. It could be a scam.

Find out more about job and employment scams and how to protect yourself.