Surge in scams shakes trust in Australians: Assistant Treasurer

Coming off the back of numerous major data breaches of large organisations (such as Optus and Medibank) Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, warned that these breaches have demonstrated that the trust of Australians can be shaken in regard to large organisations protecting their data.

The Treasurer stated that in October 2022, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) received the “highest number of scams reports for any month” in the year, with approximately 22,300 reports made and reportedly almost $50 million lost.

In addition, the Australian Cyber Security Centre saw over 76,000 cyber crime reports in the 2021/22 financial year, showing an increase in scams by 13 per cent.

He further stated that banks are “tempting targets” for cyber criminals and scammers, with Westpac reporting that they have blocked over 700,000 attempted attacks on their internet-facing applications in August of this year, along with NAB reporting 50 million attacks each month.

“Fraud, online shopping, and online banking cybercrime types accounting for 54 per cent of all reports,” Mr Jones stated.

“And the customer‑owned sector is not immune from this issue, with your sector dealing with, on average, hundreds of thousands of scams attempts per year.”

According to the Treasurer, Australians have lost at least $2 billion to scams last year with that number expected to double to $4 billion in 2022.

“Households and businesses are already struggling with rising inflation. So, it’s more important than ever to protect them from scams and frauds,” the Assistant Treasurer said.

The Treasurer outlined four ways to keep data safe and “make it harder for scammers and fraudsters”.

These steps include: stopping the flow of private data at source; better security of data once it has been collected; rapid response to frauds when they present themselves; and finally rectification.

Additionally, he mentioned the development of a new cyber security strategy commissioned by Minister Clare O'Neil along with Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher “working on Digital ID to improve the process of verification for access to Government services”.

“This is not a problem that any one sector, government or business can resolve on their own. The work Government is doing is only one piece of the puzzle,” Mr Jones concluded.

“It will take a collaboration between all of us to ensuring that trust Australians’ place in their financial institutions remains.”

[RELATED: Banks welcome budget’s cyber security funding]