Research by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed that payment redirection scams were the most financially damaging for businesses in 2020.
The ACCC’s latest Targeting Scams report says losses reported to Scamwatch, other Government Agencies, banks and payment platforms totalled $128 million in 2020.
Deputy Chair of ACCC, Mick Keogh said the reports showed Australian businesses lost $18 million to scams in 2020, a 260 per cent increase on losses reported in 2019.
“Small and micro businesses made most of the reports to Scamwatch and experienced an increase in losses in 2020, although larger businesses reported the highest losses,” Mr Keogh said.
“Based on Scamwatch data alone, false billing scams were the most commonly reported scam by businesses and accounted for three quarters of total losses to businesses. Small and micro businesses accounted for almost 60 per cent of these false billing reports.”
He said there were a range of false billing scams, but the most common type was payment redirection scams, also known as business email compromise scams, with 1,300 reports and $14 million in losses.
“This is a substantial increase from the 900 reports and $5 million in losses reported in 2019,” Mr Keogh said.
He said that in a payment redirection scam, scammers impersonated a business or its employees via email and requested that an upcoming payment be redirected to a fraudulent account.
“Scamwatch also observed a new type of scam in 2020 that targeted farmers looking for a good deal on tractors and farm machinery,” Mr Keogh said.
“Scammers advertise equipment at prices well below market value, and told farmers that they couldn’t view the tractors prior to purchase due to Government restrictions from the pandemic.”
He said farmers made payments to secure the special deals, when in reality the equipment never existed leading them to be conned out of $1.1 million.
“One thing we know about scammers is that they will take advantage of a crisis,” Mr Keogh said.
