ACCC Scamwatch notes decrease in reported losses

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch division noted a 5.5 percent dip in overall financial losses in 2023 compared to the prior year.

Losses reported to Scamwatch in 2022 reached $569 million while overall losses reported to the organisation in 2023 were 5.5 percent lower at $480.7 million. 

While its official Targeting Scams report is set to be released in the upcoming months, so far Scamwatch has found smaller businesses often account for the highest losses. 

An ACCC spokesperson told Digital Nation that while all businesses are vulnerable to scams, in 2023, “small businesses reported 2880 scams and micro businesses reported 3669 scams to Scamwatch.” 

“While all business sectors are affected by scams, historically the typical targets are high transaction industries such as real estate conveyancing firms or the construction industry,” the ACCC spokesperson said.

“The most common scam impacting businesses is payment redirection, also known as business email compromise," the spokesperson said.

“This type of scam involves scammers compromising the business email, either through hacking or by impersonating the business’ email using a technique called ‘spoofing’.

“They alter invoices or requests for payment by changing the bank account details to redirect payments to the scammer’s account.”

The spokesperson added other common scams impacting businesses are investment scams, remote access scams, phishing and rebate scams.

“The actions of scammers remain unpredictable. However, we can accept that we will see increasing sophistication of scams in 2024, making it harder for consumers and businesses to tell a legitimate interaction from a scam,” the spokesperson said.

With the launch of the National Anti-Scam Centre in July 2023, the ACCC spokesperson said this will build out "its capabilities over the next 3 years.”

“We bring together experts from government and the private sector to tackle harmful scams by sharing up-to-date information on scams and ways to protect your business and clients through our Scamwatch services.”

The centre will also improve data and information sharing to disrupt scams and coordinate “action to combat specific scams through fusion cells, the first of which is focused on disrupting investment scams.”

To better protect themselves businesses should “ensure staff, particularly those managing payments are trained in scams identification, avoidance and reporting,” the spokesperson added.

“Don’t rush when making payments. Take the time to consider and check whether an email is real and whenever there is a request to change payment details, always check with the organisation directly using stored contact details.”

The ACCC spokesperson also suggested using eInvoicing for payments, which involves “the digital exchange of standardised invoice information between suppliers' and buyers' software through the secure Peppol network.”

The Scamwatch findings mirror research from NAB which found only 15 percent of small to medium enterprises hold wide-ranging scams and cyber risk training.