Australians in 2020 reported losses to scams totalled AU$851 million, with AU$128 million lost to business email compromise (BEC), AU$8.4 million classed as remote access scams, and AU$3.1 million a result of identity theft.
Topping the list of scams was investment scams, ripping people off to the tune of AU$328 million. The total number of scam incidents was 444,164.
The information was revealed in a report [PDF] from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Scamwatch. The AU$851 million loss figure is reduced to AU$156 million, however, when information from Australia's top financial institutions is removed. This is still an increase of around 23% compared to the AU$143 million in losses reported in 2019.
The total number of scams received by Scamwatch during the 2020 calendar year was 216,087.
Bank transfer remained the most common payment method used in scams, with just over AU$97 million lost, but bitcoin and other cryptocurrency was the second highest payment method, with AU$26.5 million lost.
Those aged over 65 were the ones reporting the most loss, comprising AU$37.7 million of the total, but those in the 25 to 34-year old bracket made the most reports to Scamwatch, with 33,000 reports. The scam victims were almost split exactly 50-50 among those that identified as men and those that identified as women.
It was shown phone calls were still the number one method for scammers to use, at 47.7%, or 103,153 scams, with email accounting for 22%, text message for 15%, "internet" for 6.3%, and 4.5% of victims were spoofed via social media.
Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 led to an increase in losses and reports for several categories. Victoria, which was ..
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