The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released new figures on scams and identity theft, with the data showing more than 40 per cent of the most serious incidents are going unreported.
But while more people were exposed to scams in the 2021-22 financial year than in previous years, the percentage of people falling victim to them decreased.
Which may mean we're getting better at spotting scams.
The ABS releases personal fraud data every few years, with Wednesday's update looking at the 2021-22 financial year. The previous release was from 2020-21.
ABS data shows bank card fraud was the most common type of scam during the period, with people aged 35 to 44 being the most likely to experience it.
Here's a breakdown of the data.
What is personal fraud?
The ABS broke the topic down into four categories:
- Card fraud: The use of credit, debit, or EFTPOS card details to make purchases or withdraw cash without the account owner's permission
- Scams: A fraudulent invitation, request, notification, or offer designed to obtain personal information or money, or otherwise obtain a financial benefit by deceptive means
- Online impersonation: When someone’s personal details have been purposefully misused to impersonate them online or by phone without their permission
- Identity theft: The use of someone's personal details in stolen, fraudulent, or forged documents without permission, or otherwise illegally appropriating another's identity
This was the first year the ABS included data on online impersonation.
It showed that 2.5 per cent of people experienced this, with men and women being affected at the exact same rate.
People aged 35 to 44 were the most likely to be affected, with those aged 65 and over being the least likely.
The results came from the ABS's annual Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS), which was conducted throughout Australia from July 2021 to June 2022, with the Personal Fraud Survey being part of the research.
What age groups are most affected?
In terms of card fraud, people in the 35 to 44 and the 45 to 54 age groups were most likely to experience card fraud, with a victimisation rate of 10.2 and 9.9 per cent respectively.
People in the highest weekly household income bracket were more affected by card fraud than lower-income earners.
Age-wise, it's a similar story for the scam statistics.
Here's a look at the age brackets of people who were exposed to a scam:
All up, 13.1 million Australians were exposed to a scam, meaning they received unsolicited invitations, requests, notifications or offers.
Of those, 12.3 million did not respond but 552,000 did.
That was an improvement on the previous year, ABS head of crime and justice statistics William Milne said.
In 2021-22, 65 per cent of people received a scam offer or request, which was up from 55 per cent in the previous year.
"While more people were exposed to scams this year, we found that the number responding to scams has actually decreased to 552,000," Mr Milne said.
"The survey shows that 2.7 per cent of Australians responded to a scam in 2021-22, down from 3.6 per cent in 2020-21."
Data also showed people with qualifications, such as a certificate, diploma or degree, were more likely to be exposed to scams than those without.
Now, compare the scam exposure graph above to the scam victimisation graph below:
It shows people aged 45 to 64 were more likely to be victims of scams than those in older or younger age groups.
The 45 to 54 age bracket had a victimisation rate of 3.5 per cent, with the 55 to 64 group on 3.2 per cent.
Millennials came in third, with the 25 to 34 age group having a victimisation rate of 2.7 per cent.
People with qualifications were slightly more likely to experience a scam, while people in capital cities had a slightly higher likelihood of falling victim compared to people who lived outside a capital city.
"Although we can't say exactly why some age groups are more effected by card fraud than other, we do know that those aged between 15-24 and 65 and over are less likely to be victims of card fraud," Mr Milne said.
"We also know that those in the higher brackets of weekly income and those with higher levels of education are more at risk of card fraud.
"As such, it might be useful to look at who has access to what financial products."
According to the ABS, the most common types of scams were phishing scams and buying or selling scams.
The surveyed people aged 15 and older, so younger Australians are not represented in these figures.
How many scams get reported?
Not every scam is reported, but the data suggests we're slowly getting better at it.
But the data shows we're slowly getting better at reporting scams.
Here's a graph comparing the reporting of the most serious scam incidents from last financial year to the previous year.
In 2020/21, 50.3 per cent of major incidents weren't reported.
But last financial year, 42.3 per cent of major incidents weren't reported.
Most of these reports went to banks, with 32.2 per cent notifying their financial institution about a serious scam incident last financial year.
Compare that to just 13.9 per cent of reports going to police. Although, it's possible some people reported scams to multiple authorities.
The ABS let respondents determine what their most serious scam incidents were, so the definitions could have varied greatly between participants.
How do you report a scammer?
People are encouraged to report scams to the ACCC's Scamwatch, regardless of whether they've lost money or not.
You can report cybercrimes to police through the Australian Cyber Security Centre's online reporting portal.
If you're concerned you're a victim of identity theft, you can contact IDCARE, a not-for-profit charity that describes itself as Australia's national identity and cyber support service.
The ACCC also recommends Lifeline for crisis support to help with emotional distress about scams and Beyond Blue for support for anxiety and depression.
