Scamwatch stories

Australians lost over AUD $119 million to scams in early 2025, highlighting the urgent need for collective action from individuals, businesses and government.

Nearly 80% of Australians have faced scam communications recently, yet 70% lack knowledge on how to respond safely, reveals new Optus research.

Australian businesses have lost AUD $2.03 billion to increasingly sophisticated AI-driven scams in 2024, signalling a growing threat to the economy.

CI-ISAC Australia has joined Google's Priority Flagger Program to speed up detection and removal of online scams threatening critical infrastructure sectors.

Social media and online forums have now surpassed email as the top platforms for retail scams in Australia, with losses exceeding AUD $2.5 million in 2024.

Scams targeting Australia's micro and small businesses caused losses of AUD $7.9 million in 2024, despite recent efforts leading to a decrease from AUD $17.3 million.

As the festive season approaches, Australians are urged to defend against a rise in online scams that exploit holiday shopping trends, warns AUCyber.

Australians are being warned to stay vigilant as online shopping scams surge during Black Friday, with losses exceeding AUD $14.9 million this year.

Small businesses facing increased cyber threats can now access free training through COSBOA's Cyber Wardens program to enhance their security skills.

Australia has entered the top ten origins for phishing attacks, with a 479.3% rise in hosted phishing content and losses amounting to AUD $26.1 million.

Over 250,000 potential SMS and MMS scams have been reported in Australia, seeping through Telstra's hotline, with the highest number recorded on Thursdays.

As Valentine's Day nears, Commonwealth Bank Australia warns against a spike in romance scams, with women shown to be most at risk, losing double the amount compared to men in 2022.

The Government has boosted its funding to combat online scams and fraud, as Australians have now lost almost AUD $200 million to scammers this year alone.

Investment scams accounted for 65% of the $33m stolen by scammers from Australians in November, according to Proofpoint and Scamwatch.

In total, Australians lost $176 million to scams in 2020, 23% higher than the previous year, with phishing the most reported type.

Scamwatch is warning Australian businesses to take an urgent look at how they deal with accounts and invoices.

So far in 2018 Australians have lost more than $26 million to investment scams. Already monthly losses have increased 117% since last year.

NetSafe warns New Zealanders of a growing cold calling scam where fraudsters impersonate IT support to plant malware or charge for fake fixes.