News & alerts

In May 2023, the government funded the ACCC to set up a new National Anti-Scam Centre. The centre will bring together experts from government and the private sector to tackle harmful scams.

Jobseekers are being urged to watch out for scammers, with new Scamwatch figures revealing Australians lost over $8.7 million to recruitment scams in 2022.

Scamwatch is warning Optus customers to be on the look out for scams and take steps to secure their personal information following a cyber-attack.

Scamwatch is urging the public to be wary of phone messages from a family member or friend claiming they need help, following a significant rise in “Hi Mum” scams in recent months.

Payment redirection scams were the most financially damaging scams for Australian businesses in 2020 according to the ACCC’s latest Targeting Scams report.

Australians have lost over $300,000 to rental and accommodation scams this year, an increase of 76 per cent compared to the same time last year.

The ACCC has launched a podcast series for this year’s National Scams Awareness Week to provide Australians with tips on how to protect their personal and financial details from scammers.

There has been an increase in scams reported during tax time such as text messages claiming to be from myGov or from agencies claiming to help victims gain early access to their superannuation.

Data from the ACCC’s annual Targeting Scams report, released this week, indicates scammers don’t discriminate and are targeting a range of different communities in Australia.

Australians lost over $634 million to scams in 2019, according to the latest figures in the ACCC’s Targeting Scams report released today.