QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) are released in accordance with the conditions specified in the Statistics Determination section of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (CSA). This ensures that confidentiality is maintained whilst enabling micro level data to be released. More information on the confidentiality practices associated with CURFs can be found at the "How is CURF data confidentialised?" page.

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.


RELEVANCE

CURFs are available both as Basic and Expanded, with the Expanded CURF providing a greater level of detail on particular data items, such as geography, age, industry, occupation, hours and earnings. This CURF is available as an Expanded CURF only.

The level of detail provided for the Fraud data item is described below. Information on the level of detail for other variables can be found in the data item list:

Expanded CURF

Fraud

Whether a victim of identity fraud. Credit card fraud: Whether a victim, number of times, method, whether reported most recent incident, agencies reported to, financial loss, amount of time spent dealing with incident, behaviour changes. Identity theft: Whether a victim Lotteries: Whether exposed to a fake lottery, number of times, whether a victim Pyramid scheme: Whether exposed, number of times, whether a victim Phishing and related scams: Whether exposed, number of times, whether a victim Fake offer of financial advice: Whether exposed, number of times Chain letters: Whether exposed, number of times Advanced fee fraud: Whether exposed, number of times Other scams: Whether exposed, number of times, whether a victim

For more information on relevance see the Relevance section of the Quality Declaration that accompanied the release of Personal Fraud (cat. no. 4528.0)


TIMELINESS

This is the first time the Personal Fraud topic was collected on the Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS). The 2007-08 MPHS was collected from July 2007 to June 2008. The Personal Fraud topic was collected from July 2007 to December 2007 only. The Personal Fraud (cat. no. 4528.0) publication was released on 27 June 2008. There is currently no plan to repeat this topic.


ACCURACY

The Personal Fraud CURF contains individual person level data (unit records) at finer levels of detail for data items than what is otherwise published. For more information on the level of detail provided in the CURF please see the data item list.

Steps to confidentialise the data made available on the CURF are taken in such a way as to maximise the usefulness of the content while maintaining the confidentiality of respondents to ABS statistical collections. As a result, it may not be possible to exactly reconcile all the statistics produced from the CURF with published statistics.

For more information on the Survey Methodology, see Technical Manual: Personal Fraud, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2007 (cat. no. 4528.0.55.002).

For more information on accuracy see the Accuracy section of the Quality Declaration that accompanied the release of Personal Fraud (cat. no. 4528.0)


COHERENCE

The 2007 Personal Fraud Survey is the first nation survey of personal fraud victimisation in Australia. As a result no Australian data are available for direct comparison.


INTERPRETABILITY

The Technical Manual: Personal Fraud, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2007 (cat. no. 4528.0.55.002) is a key source for consultation when using the CURF. It includes survey objectives, methods and design; survey content; data quality and interpretation; output data items; information about the availability of results; and the content of the CURF file. Further information can also be found in the Explanatory Notes section of the publication Personal Fraud (cat. no. 4528.0).


ACCESSIBILITY

CURF microdata are not available to the public without special access being granted. Individuals or organisations that have access to sources of individual fraud data other than the CURF, may have their access denied in order to protect the confidentiality of respondents. All CURF users are required to read and abide by the 'Responsible Access to ABS Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) Training Manual'. Application to access a particular CURF microdata can be done by following the steps listed in the 'How do I apply for CURFs' Frequently Asked Questions. A full list of available CURFs can be viewed via the 'Expected and available Microdata'.

The Expanded CURF can be accessed through the Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL) and the ABS Data Laboratory (ABSDL). More detail regarding types and modes of access to CURFs can be found on CURF Access Modes and Levels of Detail web page.

If you have any questions regarding access to CURF Microdata please contact the Microdata Access Strategies Section at <microdata.access@abs.gov.au> or call (02) 6252 7714.