Scams and card fraud are something we are used to in Lismore and the Northern Rivers, especially since the 2022 big flood, but also during COVID when government payments were being claimed fraudulently.

The number of Australians who experienced card fraud and scams has risen after data was revealed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

Over two million Australians experienced card fraud and 675,000 responded to a scam in 2023-24, according to new results from the Personal Fraud Survey (PFS).

William Milne, ABS head of crime statistics, said: ‘We found that 9.9 per cent of Australians aged 15 years and over were victims of card fraud in 2023-24. This is up from 8.7 per cent in the previous year.’

The survey collects details about the most recent incident of card fraud.

‘We found 72 per cent of card fraud victims were fully reimbursed by their card issuer,’ Mr Milne said.

‘Collectively, the net loss to all victims after any reimbursements were paid out was $477 million.’

The number of Australians responding to scams has also been on the rise.

‘We found that 3.1 per cent of people were victims of scams in 2023-24, up from 2.5 per cent in the previous year.

‘Buying or selling scams, which include things like false billing and online shopping scams, were the most common, experienced by about 308,000 Australians. 

‘This was up from the 200,000 victims in the previous financial year,’ said Mr Milne.

The survey found 71 per cent of scam victims notified (or were notified by) an authority about the incident, most commonly a bank or financial institution (54 per cent).

There was also a rise to 14 per cent in the reporting of scams to a social media or selling site, up from 9.7 per cent in 2022-23.

The Personal Fraud Survey covers experiences of card fraud, identity theft, online impersonation and selected scam types. It includes prevalence rates and socio-demographic characteristics of victims. It also includes details about the most recent incidents of card fraud and identity theft, and the most serious incidents of scams.