Australian banks say they are playing their part in thwarting scammers after a new report shows that financial losses fell by $700 million, or 26 per cent, over the past year.

While the National Anti-Scam Centre’s latest Targeting Scams Report reveals a significant fall in both the scale and number of losses reported by Aussie victims, a total of $2 billion was still lost to scams perpetrated by international criminals over the past year.

Along with a fall in the financial toll of scams, there was also a fall in the number of incidents reported to authorities - down 17.8 per cent to 494,732 during the year.

Following the release of the report, the Australian Banking Association (ABA) declared that the drop was in part due to a “world leading approach” by banks in protecting consumers by tackling scams.

“This is further progress in the war against the international criminal gangs orchestrating these scams, however the fight never ends,” says Anna Bligh, the CEO of the ABA.

“These international criminal gangs will continue to evolve their tactics and find new ways to steal money. It's therefore crucial government, banks, telcos, digital platforms as well as consumers all play an ongoing role.”

The top five scams tracked by the report were investment, romance, payment redirection, remote access and phishing scams, which jointly accounted for more than 70 per cent of the total combined losses.

“While we are encouraged by the drop in reported financial losses, we acknowledge scammers are sophisticated and highly motivated criminals,” says Catriona Lowe, the deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

“We need to remain vigilant and pivot our defences to maintain this downward trajectory. Combining and actioning the intelligence we and partners receive through reports is a key element of this effort.”

Lowe says scams lead to more than just financial loss. 

“We know that the impact on scam victims and families is all too often life changing, and scams have negative effects on relationships, mental health and well-being,” she says.

Investment scams resulted in the highest overall combined losses with $945 million reported lost out of the $2 billion total in 2024.

Bligh says that Australian banks are ramping up anti-scam measures through the industry’s Scam-Safe Accord which was announced in 2023. 

The accord initiatives include an expansion of confirmation of payee, increased warnings and payment delays for higher risk transactions and strengthened intelligence and data sharing across the sector.

“This is seeing Australia’s banks set an even higher benchmark of protection for customers,” says Bligh.

“Australia’s new legislative framework which focuses on scam prevention and stopping people from being exposed to scams will be critical to further reducing scam losses.

“Banks will continue to work closely with the government and other sectors on the implementation of this framework and the development of strong and effective mandatory industry codes.”

In 2024, the National Anti-Scam Centre referred more than 8,000 URLs for takedown, including 6,000 to the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) takedown service and more than 2,000 investment-related scams to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Of the 6,000 URLs referred to the NASC takedown service, 92 per cent were successfully removed, avoiding an estimated $36 million in losses. The centre also referred 10,355 suspected Facebook scam URLs to Meta for further investigation.

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