Scams are increasingly harming people financially and emotionally. They are also becoming more sophisticated and harder for people to spot.
Between July and September 2023, Australians lost $114 million to scams.
Losses to jobs & employment scams are the most significant development in overall scam losses and trends. Australians have lost $20.3 million to these scams, an increase of 633.5% since last year.
Our first National Anti-Scam Centre quarterly update highlights the actions we’re taking to disrupt scams like these, and protect Australians from scammers.
What we do
Between July and September 2023, the National Anti-Scam Centre successfully disrupted scammers by:
- using the newly established Investments Scams Fusion Cell to take down investment scam advertisements and websites
- working with banks, telcos, cryptocurrency firms and digital platforms to block payments to scammers
- working with banks and digital platforms to shut down scammer groups on digital platforms and block bank accounts.
Reports to Scamwatch
We use Scamwatch reports to learn more about scammers’ activities in Australia, so we can design new and better ways to stop them.
Sharing details of a scam also helps us warn the community of new or emerging scams.
Between July and September this year, Scamwatch received 41.2% more reports of scams compared to the same time last year.
The increase in reports gives us more data and helps victims find the support they need. A new referral system sent 2,455 scam victims from Scamwatch directly to a specialised support service.
What’s next?
This November, the National Anti-Scam Centre and partners will join forces to promote Scams Awareness Week.
The campaign theme is impersonation scams, as many scams involve some form of impersonation of an organisation or brand.
Our online reporting form is also being upgraded, to improve data quality and make data sharing faster and more effective to help disrupt scams.
Read the full update for more details.
