The National Anti-Scam Centre has released its third quarterly update and first fusion cell report, targeting investment scams.

Quarterly update

The National Anti-Scam Centre’s third Quarterly update for January to March 2024 provides a snapshot of Australia's current scam environment.

It highlights how we're working with our partners to make Australia the world’s hardest target for scammers. 

Key statistics

  • Australians reported $73.2 million in losses to Scamwatch, $173.2 million to ReportCyber and $99.2 million to the AFCX.
  • Australians made 67,709 scam reports to Scamwatch, 16,342 scam reports to ReportCyber and 23,200 scam reports to the AFCX. 
  • Text messages, emails and phone calls were the top 3 methods used by scammers. Reports for these methods were higher for this quarter compared to the previous quarter.
  • Investment scams continued to cause the greatest financial harm to Australians, reporting losses of $47.1 million to Scamwatch over the quarter. 
  • Phishing scams were again the most reported scam type in the quarter, however reported losses were down by 5.5%.
Quarterly update infographic showing the following: Scamwatch scam losses at $73.2 million, down 10.8 percent compared to the previous quarter. ReportCyber losses at $173.2 million, down 3 percent compared to the previous quarter. AFCX losses at $99.2 million, down 41.2 percent compared to the previous quarter. Scamwatch scam reports at 67,709, up 0.9 percent compared to the previous quarter. ReportCyber scam reports at 16,342, down 7.1 percent compared to the previous quarter. AFCX scam reports at 23,200.

Read more in the National Anti-Scam Centre's January to March 2024 quarterly update.

Fusion cell report

The National Anti-Scam Centre’s first fusion cell brought together 43 organisations across government and industry.

With a focus on investment scams, the fusion cell targeted:

  • imposter bond and term deposit scams
  • AI trading platform scams.

Starting in August 2023, it ran for 6 months until February 2024.

Its objectives were to:

  • identify investment scam campaigns and their enablers
  • block the use of these enablers
  • identify barriers to better coordinate scam prevention and disruption. 

Read more in the National Anti-Scam Centre's Investment scams fusion cell report.