Scams and card fraud on the rise
Over two million Australians experienced card fraud and 675,000 responded to a scam in 2023-24, according to new results from the Personal Fraud Survey (PFS) released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
William Milne, ABS head of crime statistics, said: ‘We found that 9.9 per cent of Australians aged 15 years and over were victims of card fraud in 2023-24. This is up from 8.7 per cent in the previous year.’
The survey collects details about the most recent incident of card fraud.
‘We found 72 per cent of card fraud victims were fully reimbursed by their card issuer,’ Mr. Milne said.
‘Collectively, the net loss to all victims after any reimbursements were paid out was $477 million.’
The number of Australians responding to scams has also been on the rise.
‘We found that 3.1 per cent of people were victims of scams in 2023-24, up from 2.5 per cent in the previous year.
‘Buying or selling scams, which includes things like false billing and online shopping scams, were the most common, experienced by about 308,000 Australians.
‘This was up from the 200,000 victims in the previous financial year,’ said Mr. Milne.
The survey found 71 per cent of scam victims notified (or were notified by) an authority about the incident, most commonly a bank or financial institution (54 per cent).
There was also a rise to 14 per cent in the reporting of scams to a social media or selling site, up from 9.7 per cent in 2022-23.
The Personal Fraud Survey covers experiences of card fraud, identity theft, online impersonation and selected scam types. It includes prevalence rates and socio-demographic characteristics of victims. It also includes details about the most recent incident of card fraud and identity theft, and the most serious incident of scams.
Media notes
- A scam is a fraudulent invitation, request, notification, or offer, designed to obtain personal information or money, or otherwise obtain a financial benefit by deceptive means. In the context of the survey, experiencing a scam meant the person responded to a scam by seeking further information, providing money or personal information, or accessing links associated with the scam.
- Card fraud involves the use of credit, debit, or EFTPOS card details to make purchases or withdraw cash without the account owner's permission.
- Buying or selling scams involve requests for payment of fake invoices or products, or the purchase of non-existent, stolen or counterfeit goods. Includes false billing, classifieds, overpayments, and online shopping scams.
- Scam reporting rate refers to the proportion of scam victims who reported their most serious incident to an authority (or were notified of the incident by them). The incident may have been reported to more than one authority.
- Reporting authorities for scams include: bank or financial institution, social media or selling site, government organisation or department, police, and other.
- 2023-24 refers to the period in which the survey was conducted. The data relates to experiences in the 12 months prior to each person responding to the survey. This 12-month timeframe can vary depending on the month each person completed the survey.
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