SNAPSHOT OF PERSONAL FRAUD

TOTAL PERSONAL FRAUD

It is estimated that a total of 1.2 million Australians aged 15 years and over were a victim of at least one incident of personal fraud in the 12 months prior to interview in 2010-11. This equates to a national victimisation rate for personal fraud of 6.7% of the population aged 15 years and over. This is an increase from the 806,000 victims of personal fraud in 2007 (5.0%).

Australians lost $1.4 billion in 2010-11 due to personal fraud. Three in five victims of personal fraud (60% or 713,600 persons) lost money, an average of $2,000 per victim who incurred a financial loss. The median loss for personal fraud was $300. This means that half the number of people who lost money due to personal fraud lost less than $300 and half lost more than $300.

IDENTITY FRAUD

In the 12 months prior to the survey, an estimated 702,100 Australians were victims of identity fraud, or 4.0% of the population aged 15 years and over. This is an increase from the 499,500 victims of identity fraud in 2007 (3.1%).

CREDIT CARD FRAUD

An estimated 662,300 Australians aged 15 years and over were victims of credit card fraud in the 12 months prior to interview, or 3.7% of the population aged 15 years and over. This is an increase from the 383,300 victims of credit card fraud in 2007 (2.4%).

IDENTITY THEFT

In the 12 months prior to survey in 2010-11, an estimated 44,700 Australians were victims of identity theft, or 0.3% of the population aged 15 years and over. This is a decrease from the 124,000 victims of identity theft in 2007 (0.8%).

SCAMS

According to the survey results, an estimated 6.4 million Australians were exposed to a scam in the 12 months prior to interview. This equated to just over a third (35.8%) of the Australian population aged 15 years and over – the same proportion as in 2007.

An estimated 514,500 Australians aged 15 years and over (2.9%) responded to a scam in the 12 months prior to survey. This is an increase from the 329,000 victims (2.0%) that responded to a scam in 2007.

COMPARISON OF FRAUD TYPES

Australians were more likely to fall victim to credit card fraud (3.7%) than experience identity theft (0.3%) or a scam (2.9%), and more likely to become a victim of a scam (2.9%) than identity theft (0.3%).

Reporting rates were higher for credit card fraud (49.9%) and identity theft (65.5%) than a scam (31.2%).

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