The government of Western Australia recently announced that the number of reported scam losses hit a record high in 2022. There were around 1,203 people losing a total of around $16 million. This represented a 7% increase on 2021’s losses. Almost half of those scams were for online shopping or trading scams, with people chasing high investment returns or looking for love having lost the most money. There were also an increase in “Hi Mom or Dad” scams where criminals masqueraded as the victim’s children who are in need of urgent funds. It is believed that only about 13% of scam losses are reported to authorities, indicating that these figured are only the tip of the iceberg.
This segment was created for the It’s 5:05 podcast