A recent report found Australian businesses reported a combined loss of close to $2 billion to scammers, with investment scams topping the list.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released today the latest Targeting Scams report based on data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, major banks and money remitters, and government agencies.
The ACCC found there were more than 566,600 reports across all the reporting bodies with a combined loss of almost $1.8 billion in 2021.
However, the report said a third of victims do not report scams, with the ACCC believing the actual loss to be well over $2 billion.
According to the report, investment scams caused the most financial loss with a reported $701 million combined losses followed by payment redirection scams with $227 million loss reported.
A payment redirection scam involves scammers impersonating a business or its employees via email, asking for an upcoming payment to be redirected to a fraudulent account.
Scamwatch recorded a combined $22.175 million loss in WA while the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety-run WA ScamNet received 2,526 scam reports in 2021 with reported losses of more than $14 million.
According to the ACCC report, WA ScamNet helped 10 victims recover $349,634 lost to scammers.
ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said small and micro businesses lost the most money to scams last year.
“The most common contact method scammers used against businesses was email, which is not surprising given the prevalence of payment redirection scams,” he said.
“We would like to see overseas initiatives such as confirmation of payee implemented in Australia, where banks automatically check to see if account name and account numbers match.
“We believe it may reduce the losses to scams that we are seeing.”
