The number of seniors falling victim to scams went up in 2023, despite the overall amount of people in Australia being fleeced of their money going down.
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In one case, an elderly woman lost her life savings after seeing a deep-fake Elon Musk video on social media. She clicked on the link and registered her details online. Then she was assigned a 'financial advisor' and could see on an online dashboard that she was apparently making returns, but she couldn't withdraw her money.
The latest Targeting Scams report shows that $2.74 billion was lost in 2023, a 13.1 percent drop from 2022.
But data from Scamwatch showed that people aged over 65 were the only group to experience an increase in losses in 2023. They lost $120 million that year - an increase of 13.3 percent.
People in this age group were impacted by investment scams more than younger people. Many seniors also said they lost a lot of money after first encountering the scams on social media.
ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said Scamwatch reports show scammers are targeting older Australians with retirement savings, who may be looking for investment opportunities.
Scamwatch said most scams reported came through a text message first (109,621 reports, a rise of (37.3 per cent from 2022). But most money was stolen through phone call scams ($116 million), followed by social media ($93.5 million).
Job scams more than doubled, totalling $24.3 million and up by 151. 2 per cent. Sadly, people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities were the biggest victims, as were people looking for part-time jobs or ways to boost their income.
The Targeting Scams report includes data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX), IDCARE and ASIC.
More than 600,000 scams were reported to those organisations in 2023, an 18.5 per cent increase over 2022.
Most money was lost through investment scams ($1.3 billion), followed by remote access scams ($256 million) and romance scams ($201.1 million).
Top tips to avoid scams
STOP - Don't rush to act. Scammers will create a sense of urgency.
THINK - Ask yourself if you really know who you are communicating with? Scammers can impersonate others and lie about who they are - especially online.
PROTECT - Act quickly if something feels wrong. If you have shared financial information or transferred money, contact your bank immediately. Help others by reporting to Scamwatch at .
