Australia (Common Wealth) _ According to recent Scamwatch data, Australians lost almost $205 million to scams between 1 January and 1 May, a 166% rise over the same time last year.
The data suggests that only about 13% of people disclose their losses to Scamwatch, implying that the genuine losses are substantially greater.
The majority of losses during this period were due to investment frauds, with $158 million lost, a 314 percent increase over the same period last year. While reported losses have increased, the number of reports has decreased marginally, indicating that respondents reported bigger individual losses on average.
“As more money is lost to investment scams, we urge all Australians not to trust investment opportunities that appear too good to be true,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.
The majority of investment fraud losses this year concerned crypto assets, with $113 million reported lost. In addition, cryptocurrency is the most commonly used payment mechanism for investment scams.
“Australians should be wary of anyone who asks them to invest in or transfer money using cryptocurrency, especially if they met only online.” Many customers are unfamiliar with the subtleties of cryptocurrencies, which makes them more vulnerable to scams, according to Ms Rickard.
This year has also witnessed an upsurge in impostor bond frauds, with $10.9 million reported lost, according to Scamwatch. Imposter bond schemes typically imitate legitimate financial institutions or banks, claiming to sell government/treasury bonds or fixed-term deposits. Scamwatch data also shows that scam contact tactics are shifting, with text messages increasing by 54% between January 1 and May 1 this year, surpassing phone calls as the most popular way of contact.
“If you receive an unexpected text message or phone call from someone offering you the opportunity to invest, it is most likely a scam, and you should immediately hang up or delete the message,” Ms. Rickard advised.
Phone frauds have nearly been cut in half, indicating that the telecommunications industry’s reducing frauds Call Code 2020, which bans incoming calls from scammers, is having an effect. Since the code’s implementation, telco companies have banned over 549 million scam calls, restricting criminals’ ability to defraud Australians.
This year will also see the implementation of new guidelines to prevent fraudulent text texts. People aged 55 to 64 reported the biggest overall losses, $32 million between 1 January and 1 May, with investment frauds accounting for more than 80% of losses ($26 million).
