Scams and identity theft were big problems in Australia, long before the Optus data breach put many of us on alert.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), more than $381 million has been lost to scams so far this year.
And there have been more than 146,000 reports to the ACCC's Scamwatch, but those are only the ones being reported, so the actual scam loss figure could be higher, ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard says.
