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Data released by the ABS has revealed two-thirds of Australians over the age of 15 were subjected to scams over 2021–22.
According to the data released today (22 February 2023) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), scam exposure increased from 65 per cent in 2021–22, up from the 55 per cent recorded on the previous corresponding period.
The data was collected from the Personal Fraud Survey (PFS) conducted throughout Australia between July 2021 to June 2022.
In total, 13.2 million people were exposed to a scam during this period. Men and women seemed to be exposed to scams at the same rate, both at 65 per cent, while the exposure rate varied by age, with those aged 15–24 being the least likely to be exposed to a scam at 53 per cent.
The survey’s findings indicated that people were most commonly exposed to scams over the phone (48 per cent or 9.8 million) or via text messages (47 per cent or 9.5 million).
Exposure from text messages more than doubled from 23 per cent in 2020–21 to 47 per cent and over-the-phone scams increased from 38 per cent to 48 per cent.
According to ABS, the most likely groups to be exposed to scams were people with non-school qualifications such as a certificate, diploma, or degree at 70 per cent (compared to the 56 per cent who did not) and people living in an area in the highest quintile (or least disadvantaged) of the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage at 69 per cent, compared to the 60 per cent of those in the lowest quintile.
ABS head of crime and justice statistics, William Milne, said: “While more people were exposed to scams this year, we found that the number responding to scams has actually decreased to 552,000.
“The survey shows that 2.7 per cent of Australians responded to a scam in 2021–22 down from 3.6 per cent in 2020–21.”
The findings also indicated that there are more people reporting their experiences to authorities, with 57 per cent reporting their most serious incident, up from 50 per cent in 2020–21.
“About one-third reported to a bank or financial institution, which remains the most common authority scams are reported to,” Mr Milne added.
“However, we have recently seen a notable increase in reporting to the police, up from 8.2 per cent in 2020–21 to 14 per cent in 2021–22.”
[RELATED: Assistant Treasurer warns of ATO social media scam]
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