SCAMS

Around three-quarters of all persons exposed to a scam in 2010-11 were exposed on more than one occasion (76.4%).

The majority of victims that responded to a scam responded to only one notification (70.8%), with 13.1% responding to two notifications, and 16.2% responding to three or more notifications.

Of those victims that responded to a scam, the majority responded by asking for more information (72.5%), followed by accessing a website (40.3%), sending details (15.9%), and accepting an offer (13.2%).

Email or internet was the most common known method through which victims were exposed to a scam, with 55.7% of victims being exposed in this way, followed by telephone/fax/SMS (41.2%), post (10.6%), and in person (6.1%). Around one in seven victims stated that they did not know how they were exposed to the scam (14.2%).


Just under a third of scam victims (31.2%) reported the incident to an agency. Just under one in five victims reported the incident to a business (18.0%), 7.7% reported it to the police, 3.7% reported it to consumer affairs/ombudsman, and 7.8% of victims reported it to another agency.


A small percentage of scam victims incurred a financial loss (7.7%), with 2.9% incurring a loss of $100 or less, and 4.8% incurring a loss of over $100.

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