One in ten Australians was the victim of fraud involving credit cards, debit and EFTPOS, show the latest annual data.
And the fraud rates of cards and blows increased sharply, with fraudsters stealing billions of dollars, according to the personal fraud at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Consumer advocates say the numbers reveal “a stark image that is still getting worse” and the next federal government should take urgent measures to deal with the growth of the blows.
Card fraud affected 9.9% of Australians in 2023-24, increasing from 8.7% the previous year, while the number of people involved with scammers also rose significantly to 675,300 people, against 514,300.
William Milne, chief of crime statistics at the agency, said 72% of card fraud victims were fully reimbursed by the letter issuer, with gross stolen value totaling $ 2.1 billion.
“Collectively, net loss to all victims after any reimbursement was paid was $ 477 million,” he said.
The purchase or sale of scams, which includes practices such as false scams and on -line shopping blows, were the most common form of scams, experienced by about 308,000 people.
This went from 200,000 victims in the previous financial year, Milne said.
The chief executive of the Consumer Law Center, Stephanie Tonkin, said the data showed a stark image that was still worse, with hundreds of thousands of victims being stolen in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
“These disturbing data show that we are not out of the forest when it comes to blows and fraud, and what worries me is the artificial distinction between victims of fraud and blows,” she said.
While most banks reimbursed the victims of fraud, people who were deceived – mistaken to authorize payment to a criminal – had been treated as second -class citizens, reimbursed an insignificant 5% or less, she said.
The next government should make combat blows urgent priority and designate bank sectors, telecommunications and digital platforms under the scam prevention structure, said Tonkin.
A code of practice must be developed to focus on the rights of fraud victims and the need for a simple and fast path to correct and compensate, she said.
