2.1 million Australians (11 per cent) experienced one or more types of personal fraud in 2020-21, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The 2020-21 Personal Fraud Survey asked respondents about their experiences of personal fraud including card fraud, identity theft, and selected types of scams.
ABS Director of the National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics, Will Milne said: “The results showed an increase in the rate of personal fraud, from 8.5 per cent in 2014-15, to 11 per cent in 2020-21. This was driven by an increase in the rate of card fraud (from 5.9 per cent to 6.9 per cent) and scams (from 2.4 per cent to 3.6 per cent).”
The types of scams that Australians experience have also changed over time.
“Since 2014-15, victimisation rates have increased for information request or phishing scams (from 0.4 per cent to 1.0 per cent), buying or selling scams (from 0.5 per cent to 0.8 per cent) and upfront payment scams (from 0.2 per cent to 0.4 per cent),” Mr Milne said.
The survey found that most experiences of card fraud and identity theft came to the attention of authorities.
“The majority of those experiencing identity theft (93 per cent) and card fraud (95 per cent) reported the most recent incident to an authority – most commonly a bank or financial institution,” Mr Milne said.
In contrast only half (50 per cent) of those who experienced a scam said they reported the scam to an authority.
“The reporting rate…
