Australians lose $1.4b to fraud in 12 months

Australians lost $1.4 billion due to personal fraud last financial year, according to the ABS.

The losses include credit card fraud, identity theft and scams.

More than 1.2 million Australians were a victim of at least one incidence of personal fraud – about 6.7% of the population.

In 2007 an estimated 806,000 Australians were victims of personal fraud. The ABS reports that:

• 662,300 Australians were victims of credit card fraud – a 2.4% increase from 2007.
• 44,700 Australians were victims of identity theft, a decrease of 0.8% since 2007.
• 514,500 Australians were victims of scams – a 2% increase.