News & alerts

Farmers and small businesses in rural and regional areas are urged to be cautious, particularly when buying heavy machinery, following a spike in scams targeting the agricultural sector this year.

Scamwatch is urgently warning Australians to be on the lookout for increased scam activity following the recent Optus data breach and to take steps to protect themselves.

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.

Losses to imposter bond investment scams have nearly tripled in the first half of this year with consumers losing over $20 million to these sophisticated scams.

The financial and emotional devastation caused by scams every year in Australia can be reduced if government, consumer groups and the private sector work together.

Australian businesses lost $227 million to payment redirection scams in 2021, a 77 per cent increase compared to 2020, the ACCC’s latest Targeting Scams report reveals.

Scammers stole over $66 million last year from Indigenous Australians, people who identified as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), and people with disability

Australians lost a record amount to scams in 2021, despite government, law enforcement, and the private sector disrupting more scam activity than ever before.

Australians lost over $205 million to scams between 1 January and 1 May, a 166 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, according to new data from Scamwatch.