Australians lost nearly $300 million to scammers in 2016, with a 47% increase in scam reports to the competition watchdog, the ACCC, during the year over 2015.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch and the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) received a combined 200,000 reports about scams.
And, in addition, losses reported to Scamwatch, ACORN and other scam disruption programmes in 2016 totalled $299.8 million.
Australians aged over 55 accounted for 45% of reports to Scamwatch, while investment scams accounted for the most losses with combined reports to Scamwatch and ACORN totalling $59 million.
{loadposiotion peter}But affairs of the heart and online dating were the worst hit.
According to Scamwatch, dating and romance scams in 2016 accounted for the next highest losses, with a combined $42 million lost.