Australians are likely to lose $4 billion to scammers this year alone, almost double that lost last year, the federal government warns.
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones on Monday announced Labor will set up an anti-scam centre inside the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission, in line with its election promises.
It will also roll out new industry codes to try to stop “scumbags” from ripping off Australians.
Mr Jones said he was disturbed by the $4 billion figure but not surprised.
“It’s a tragedy at any point in time, but when Australians are struggling with cost-of-living increases, to have their life savings ripped away from them is just unbearable,” he told the Seven Network.
Scams cost Australian consumers, businesses, and the economy hundreds of millions of dollars each year and cause serious emotional harm to victims and their families.
In 2021, Australians made more than 286,600 reports to the ACCC’s Scamwatch and reported losses of about $324 million.
By the end of August this year, Australians had lost even more with reported losses of over $381 million.
But Scamwatch says the real number is clearly more because at least a third of people who are scammed never tell anyone.
“When you look at those numbers moving from $2 billion to $4 billion, we can’t afford to have another year were there is no action on this,” Mr Jones told Nine Network.
This week is Scams Awareness Week.
One of the biggest scams includes phishing, where a scammer tries to con someone into revealing their identity and other personal information including banking details.
According to comparison website Finder, Australians are also increasingly falling victim to fake text and phone calls.
Its survey of 1058 respondents revealed three in four Australians – equivalent to 15 million people – had received a fraudulent text message or phone call this year.
But only 21 per cent reported the scam, while 4 per cent didn’t realise until later it was a hoax.
ACCC data shows that of the more than $2 billion to scams in 2021, around $10 million was scammed through text messages.
Sarah Megginson, money expert at Finder, said Australians had been flooded with fraudulent tex and phone calls in recent years and should ignore contact from unknown numbers.
“Let the caller go to voicemail. If they leave a number, you can check if it matches a real business online,” she said in a statement on Monday.
“Don’t ever reply to or click on links in text messages. These could link to viruses and other nasties, or fake sites looking to steal your personal data.”
One giveaway is if the text message has bad spelling or grammar.
“Be especially cautious if you get a message in WhatsApp or on Facebook claiming to be from a relative who has lost their phone and now needs help,” Ms Megginson said.
“This is the so-called ‘Mum scam’, and is responsible for $2.6 million in losses in the first seven months of the year.”
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