Scam numbers on the rise as the push for PayID continues By Jarrod McAleese Australians are unfortunately falling victim to cyber-crime in record numbers. A recent ACCC Targeting Scams report revealed that Australian businesses had lost $227 million to payment redirection scams in 2021, a 77% increase compared to 2020. It was also confirmed that payment redirection scams were the single most financially damaging scams for Australian businesses in the previous year. A typical payment redirection scam involves scammers impersonating a business or its employees via email or other channels and requesting an upcoming payment be redirected to a fraudulent account. This is also commonly referred to as Business Email Compromise (BEC). Breakdown of 2021 scam reports and losses by business size (Scamwatch data only)
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The threat to our sector Buying and selling a home is one of the most emotionally charged and financially significant transactions a person will ever make – a truly critical milestone in anyone’s life. Given the sums involved and the nature of the information being exchanged, industry professionals servicing Australia’s homebuyers and sellers; conveyancers, lawyers, bank representatives and real estate agents, are a prime target for cyber criminals and specifically, payment redirection scams. ACCC data found that it was our smaller businesses that were hit the hardest.
Scam type
Number of reports
Reported losses
Micro (0-4 staff)
1,093
$3.5m
Small (5-19 staff)
890
$3.5m
Medium (20-199 staff)
551
$4.2m
Large (over 200 staff)
319
$421k
Size of business not provided
771
$1.7m
