Aussies Scammed Out Of $295 Million During First Half Of 2022 – channelnews | #datingscams | #lovescams

A new report from cybersecurity company Proofpoint has revealed that from January to June 2022, Aussies were scammed out of $295 million, more than double the $139 million from the first half of 2021.

Via analysis of data from the ACCC’s Scamwatch, Proofpoint made a number of key findings that suggests that scams are evolving to become more effective.

Despite the financial hit of scams more than doubling and approaching $300 million, the number of reported scams dripped from 124,321 in 2021 to 105,153 in 2022. This suggests that scammers are becoming “more sophisticated” and are taking much larger sums of money in less attempts.

Investment scams took the crown for being the most financially damaging, with over $219 million in losses reported in the first six months of 2022, a jump from $177 million during the entirety of 2021. Dating and romance followed with $16 million in losses.

Phishing scams were the most commonly reported, with counts reaching almost 32,000 from last years 28,500. More than half of these were SMS phishing scams. Online shopping scams came in second with 8,959 reports, and were mostly delivered online.

It seems that phones are playing a major role in the growth of scams, with $94 million in losses coming from mobile applications, whilst phone calls were noted as the most common delivery method with 33,403 reports, closely followed by text scams with 32,700 reports.

Those over 65 were the most susceptible to scams, with the demographic losing $51 million. Men accounted for 61% of losses (181 million), whilst women made up 37% ($111 million).

Finally, March was the most lucrative month for scammers, with losses hitting 95 million, whilst January was the busiest period with reports hitting over 21,000.

“Across the year we have seen phone scams and text message scams increase exponentially, as these methods are easy and an effective way for scammers to execute mass phishing campaigns at very little cost,” says Senior Director of Technical Sales, Asia Pacific and Japan at Proofpoint, Adrian Covich.

“In light of this rise in SMS scams, it is encouraging to see the ACCC register new rules for telecommunications providers to help stop scam messages from reaching customers. While this is a step in the right direction, we urge Australians to continue to be vigilant about any unsolicited communications and not to solely rely on these measures to stop scams from getting through.”

To avoid being scammed, Proofpoint urge people to following these tips:

• Never share personal or financial information including bank account or credit card details with someone you don’t know.
• Do not click through links or open attachments from unknown senders whether that’s over email, text, social media or online.
• Look out for spelling and grammatical errors, these can suggest a message is a scam.
• Only communicate with an organisation through official channels found on company websites, do not reply directly to emails or click on links provided.
• Do not share passwords with people and ensure you change passwords regularly. Consider using a password manager to help protect your personal information from being stolen.
• Be cautious about phone calls or emails that come out of the blue with investment offers or travel and other prizes.