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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:09 pm
Time: 9:09 pm
Results for consumer protection and fraud
3 results foundAuthor: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Title: Targeting Scams: Report of the ACCC on Scam Activity 2012 Summary: Scam reports •• In 2012 the ACCC continued to observe a high level of scams activity in Australia, with 83 803 scam-related contacts received from consumers and small businesses. •• Estimated scam losses reported to the ACCC totalled $93 423 030, a nine per cent increase from 2011. Actual losses are likely to be higher as many scams go unreported and the ACCC is only one of several agencies that receive scam reports. •• Similar to 2011, the majority of consumers and small businesses contacting the ACCC about scam-related activities in 2012 (nearly 88 per cent) reported no financial loss. The most common category of loss was again between $100 to $499. This indicates the continued use of ‘high volume scams’, which are delivered to large numbers of recipients but cause smaller amounts of loss per victim. At the same time, the ACCC continued to receive reports of individuals suffering very high losses. Most reported scams •• For the fourth consecutive year, advance fee/up-front payment scams were the most commonly reported scam type, constituting 32 per cent of all scam contacts. •• Computer hacking remained the second most reported scam type in 2012, representing just over 13 per cent of total scam reports to the ACCC. The ‘Microsoft’ computer virus scam continued to heavily target Australians. The public was also targeted by a scareware scam where the perpetrators pretended to be from the Australian Federal Police. •• Online shopping scams increased by 65 per cent with reported financial losses totalling $4 038 479. •• The ACCC also received a high level of contacts about banking and online account scams, false billing, job and employment scams, dating and romance, and unexpected prize scams. Age range and location demographics •• In 2012 scams were most commonly reported by persons in the 35 to 44 age category, representing 32 per cent of contacts. This saw a shift from the previous year, where contacts were spread across a wider range of age from 25 through to 54 years. •• The greatest amounts of scam reports to the ACCC came from New South Wales (23.5 per cent), Queensland (21 per cent), Victoria (18 per cent) and South Australia (12.5 per cent). Scam delivery method •• Scams delivered via telephone (landline and mobile) remained the preferred delivery method in 2012, with combined voice and text message scams constituting over half (56 per cent) of all reports to the ACCC. Unsolicited telephone calls represented just over 42 per cent (35 419) of contacts reported to the ACCC, accounting for $24 213 979 in reported losses. Scams delivered via SMS represented over 14 per cent (11 797) of total contacts and $759 986 in reported losses. Details: Canberra: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2013. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 10, 2013 at: http://transition.accc.gov.au/content/item.phtml?itemId=1117162&nodeId=18648488db8502f9c2a254d931814e39&fn=Targeting%20scams:%20Report%20of%20the%20ACCC%20on%20scam%20activity%20in%202012.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: http://transition.accc.gov.au/content/item.phtml?itemId=1117162&nodeId=18648488db8502f9c2a254d931814e39&fn=Targeting%20scams:%20Report%20of%20the%20ACCC%20on%20scam%20activity%20in%202012.pdf Shelf Number: 129358 Keywords: Consumer Protection and FraudFraudScams |
Author: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Title: Targeting Scams: Report of the ACCC on Scams Activity 2013 Summary: This report explains key trends in scam activity and highlights the impact of scams on the community. It highlights the cooperative work of the ACCC, other regulators and law enforcement agencies to disrupt scams and educate consumers. Overall contacts levels and financial losses - In 2013 the ACCC continued to observe a high level of scams activity in Australia, with 91 927 scam-related contacts received from consumers and small businesses, an increase of nearly 10 per cent over 2012. - Estimated scam losses reported to the ACCC totalled $89 136 975, representing an almost 5 per cent decrease from 2012 ($93 423 030) - a reversal in trend from 2011 and 2012 where large increases were observed. However, actual losses are likely to be higher as many scams go unreported and the ACCC is only one of several agencies that receive scam reports. Most reported scams - In 2013 dating and romance scams moved to number one position in terms of financial losses, with $25 247 418 reported lost. For the third consecutive year the ACCC has observed a decrease in the conversion rate of people who responded to an approach by a scam admirer and subsequently lost money - from 48 per cent in 2011 to 46 per cent in 2012 to 43 per cent in 2013. However, financial losses continue to remain substantially disproportionate to contacts, with dating and romance scams making up only 3 per cent of all scam-related contacts in 2013. - Similar to previous years, the majority of people contacting the ACCC about scam-related activities in 2013 (slightly over 86 per cent) reported no financial loss. Nearly one third of people who lost money reported losing between $100 and $499, which indicates scammers continuing to prefer 'high volume scams' - that is, scams that are delivered to large numbers of recipients but cause smaller amounts of loss per victim. - At the same time, the ACCC continued to receive reports of individuals suffering significant losses. Over 10 per cent of scam contacts reported losing above $10 000. However, there were only two reports of losses above $1 million in 2013 compared to six reports in 2012. - In 2013 the top 10 scams reported to the ACCC in terms of contact levels remained the same with some minor movements in ranking. The three most commonly reported scams were advance-fee fraud, phishing and identity theft, and computer hacking scams. - The ACCC observed a significant increase in phishing and identity theft scams, with reports increasing by over 73 per cent from 2012 to 15 264 contacts. Actual financial losses remained low, suggesting that scammers are instead seeking personal information for later gain. - Computer prediction software scams saw a significant increase in both contacts and financial losses from the previous year, with an increase of 41 per cent in contact levels and associated losses more than doubling to a total of $9 144 288. This increase is likely attributable to a collapsed gambling system in Victoria, which received widespread media coverage. Age range and location demographics - In 2013, of all individuals who contacted the ACCC and provided their age, scams were most commonly reported by persons in the 45 to 54 age category. The percentage of reports from people who identified as 65 years and over nearly doubled to 18 per cent. - The greatest amount of scam reports came from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Contact levels and associated losses were largely consistent with the percentage of the Australian population by state and territory. - At the end of 2013 the ACCC updated its data collection process and in 2014 will be able to analyse scam categories against new fields such as a victim's gender, whether they are a small business, or may be disadvantaged or vulnerable. Scam delivery method - In line with a shift in recent years, in 2013 over half (52 per cent) of scams were delivered via phone and text message, with combined total financial losses of $29 391 887. Telephone calls remained the most popular delivery method, with reports and losses rising in parallel by nearly 13 and 14 per cent respectively, and losses totalling $3 335 763. Scams delivered by text message decreased by around 35 per cent, while reported losses more than doubled to $1 848 805. - Despite representing a lower percentage of contacts (40 per cent), scams delivered online caused the greatest financial harm with associated losses totalling $41 781 071. While contacts of reports delivered via email increased by nearly 14 per cent, financial losses almost halved (49 per cent), which could indicate scammers using email to 'fish' for personal information but turning to other online communication platforms such as social networking sites for monetary gain. The ACCC's education and awareness raising activities - The ACCC continued to educate the public about how to identify and avoid scams, and raise community awareness about current scams targeting Australians. SCAMwatch, the Australian Government's website for information about scams that is run by the ACCC, received 1 228 599 unique visitors in 2013, an increase of over 26 per cent from the previous year. - The ACCC also continued to issue SCAMwatch radar alerts to its free subscription base, which in 2013 increased by 30 per cent to reach 29 150 subscribers. A total of 18 SCAMwatch alerts were issued warning about current scams, including joint radars issued with other government agencies and companies about scammers misusing consumer trust in these well-known entities. - The ACCC's SCAMwatch_gov Twitter profile also continued to communicate with its 4374 followers in real time as scams emerged, with 583 tweets posted during the year. - The 2013 National Consumer Fraud Week campaign, 'Outsmart the scammers!' (17-23 June), received significant media coverage as the ACCC and the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce urged people to stay one click ahead of scammers when shopping online. - The Little Black Book of Scams is the ACCC's most popular publication and 91 203 copies were distributed in 2013. A new small business scams factsheet was also produced. The ACCC's collaboration, disruption and enforcement activities - In 2013 the ACCC worked with a range of private and public sector representatives to disrupt scams including online shopping scams and the 'Yellow Pages' small business scam. - The ACCC continued to chair the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce, and hosted a conference and workshop as part of National Consumer Fraud Week where representatives across government, industry and academia explored how to minimise scams activity in the digital economy. - The ACCC successfully prosecuted the perpetrators behind schemes targeting small businesses including the operators of a pyramid selling scheme, an online business directory scam with a philanthropic slant, and an office supply scheme. - The ACCC also commenced planning for a national disruption project aimed at relationship scams, which is a 2014 compliance and enforcement priority. The ACCC will work closely with other agencies on this project, building upon previous work undertaken to disrupt relationship scams. Details: Canberra: ACCC, 2014. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2014 at: https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Targeting%20Scams%202013.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 132658 Keywords: Consumer Protection and FraudCrimes Against BusinessFinancial CrimesFraudScams |
Author: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Title: Targeting Scams: Report of the ACCC on scams activity 2015 Summary: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) seventh annual report on scams activity in Australia highlights the significant financial loss and emotional harm incurred by the Australian community as a result of scams. In 2015 the ACCC received over 105 000 scam reports, 14 000 more than in 2014. Reported monetary losses also grew by 4 per cent, to almost $85 million. For this year's report the ACCC has also reviewed data from other jurisdictions that receive reports or detect scams to gain a clearer picture of the significance of losses caused by scam activity in Australia. Reports to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) revealed losses of over $127 million1. Additionally, various scam disruption programs, operated by the ACCC and other agencies, also detect Australians sending funds to high risk jurisdictions. A combined estimate of losses to this unreported scam activity is $17.1 million. Combining Scamwatch and ACORN data with losses detected through scam disruption work, total scam losses exceed $229 million. This report seeks to explore the nature of scam losses and identify some emerging trends. It focuses on data reported to Scamwatch and statistics provided in the report are in respect of that data unless specifically stated otherwise. By far the most concerning trend in the ACCC's Scamwatch data related to investment scams, which overtook dating and romance scams as the category with the largest financial losses reported by Australians in the last year. Losses to investment scams almost doubled, from $12.5 million to $24.4 million with six people reporting individual losses of $1 million or more. Additionally, ACORN data shows reported losses to investment scams of almost $17 million. This brings total reported losses to more than $41 million and this still does not include those that do not report or may have reported to another organisation. It is not hard to see why many Australians are losing large sums of money in these scams given how difficult they are to identify. These more sophisticated scams often involve scammers who use accurate technical jargon in carefully crafted cold calling scripts and accompany this with glossy brochures backed up by professional-looking websites. Even astute investors have been known to fall victim to these more calculated scams. Losses reported to Scamwatch from dating and romance scams have reduced by more than $5 million (18.5 per cent) to $22.7 million, and are the second highest category in 2015. Together with investment scams, they account for 56 per cent of scam losses reported to Scamwatch in the past year. A further $14.8 million was reported to ACORN. When you add in the $17.1 million identified through disruption initiatives, this brings the total for relationships scams to over $54 million. While investment and dating scams caused the most losses in 2015, the most commonly reported scams to the ACCC have been phishing scams, reclaim scams and upfront payment/advanced fee scams. Over 15 000 reports of phishing scams have been received, resulting in a total reported loss of $363 270. While the number of reports we received are spread across all age groups, it is middle aged and older Australians who are reporting the highest losses. The ACCC has taken a closer look at the risk that scam activity poses to older Australians in this report. Details: Canberra: ACCC, 2016. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 19, 2016 at: http://apo.org.au/files/Resource/targeting_scams_-_report_of_the_accc_on_scam_activity_2015.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: http://apo.org.au/files/Resource/targeting_scams_-_report_of_the_accc_on_scam_activity_2015.pdf Shelf Number: 139103 Keywords: Consumer Protection and Fraud Crimes Against BusinessCybercrimeFinancial CrimesFraud Scams |