Aussie scam losses drop as protections get stronger, NASC reveals

The latest Targeting Scams Report by the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) has revealed that scam losses reported to key organisations in 2024 have fallen by 25.9 per cent to $2 billion.

NASC noted the notable drop in reported scams could be attributed to efforts by government, industry, law enforcement and community organisations to reduce the financial impact of scams on Australians.

The Targeting Scams Report compiled data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange, IDCARE and ASIC and found that scam reports had fallen by 17.8 per cent to 494,732 reports in 2024, compared to 601,803 in 2023.

ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said combining and actioning the intelligence received through reports was a key element within the effort.

“While we are encouraged by the drop in reported financial losses, we acknowledge scammers are sophisticated and highly motivated criminals. We need to remain vigilant and pivot our defences to maintain this downward trajectory,” she said.

“Scams lead to more than just financial loss. We know that the impact on scam victims and families is all too often life changing, and scams have negative effects on relationships, mental health and wellbeing.”

Out of the 494,732 scams reported over the course of 2024, the top five scam types highlighted in the combined data were investment, romance, payment redirection, remote access and phishing scams, all of which accounted for more than 70 per cent of total losses.

Out of these, investment scams reflected the highest overall combined losses, with $945 million reported over the year.

Lowe noted, despite investment scams being the most popular scam type and usually resulted in the most financial damage, investment scams had decreased by 27.3 per cent since 2023.

This decrease was linked to government and stakeholder initiatives such as the investment scam fusion cell.

Based on Scamwatch data alone, the most reported contact method that led to financial loss was linked to social media, as there were 7,724 reports about social media scams in 2024 with overall losses of $69.5 million.

It was also revealed by Scamwatch that losses incurred by First Nations people had increased by 73.1 per cent to $6.5 million in 2024 and NASC would focus efforts to effectively reach and protect First Nations communities in 2025.

The findings also revealed those aged 35-44 were the most likely to experience a financial loss, with this age group having filed the most scam reports in 2024.

However, those aged 65 and over have continued to report the highest losses of any age group with $99.6 million lost in 2024.

NASC said in 2024 it referred more than 8,000 URLs for takedown, including 6,000 to the NASC takedown service and over 2,000 investment related scams to ASIC.

Ninety-two per cent of the referred URLs were successfully removed, which helped avoid an estimated $36 million in losses.

Lowe said NASC would continue efforts to protect Australians from the damaging financial impact of scams.

“We continue to be concerned about the high individual losses and emotional impact of scams. Scammers often make contact on social media and groom their victims over long periods of time. We urge Australians to never take investment advice or give money to people they have only met online,” she said.

“We’re committed to providing ever better protection for Australians against increasingly sophisticated scams and are confident that our coordinated efforts across government, law enforcement and industry will continue to drive losses down.”