News

First published in the Herald Sun, Sunday27 July 2025

The scams crisis is still raging, and some statistical indicators reveal this problem, which costs Australians billions of dollars every year, is getting worse.

Yet we are probably more than a year away from the Albanese Government’s much lauded Scam Prevention Framework – which targets banks and online platforms with fines of up to $50 million if they fail to stop scams – coming into effect.

Meanwhile, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported scam losses increased by 28 per cent to almost $119 million for the first four months of this year, compared to the same time last year.

The onslaught of artificial intelligence combined with the brazen criminality of cashed-up international scam networks is making the online world a virtual minefield.

While our banks, telcos, business and government are relentlessly pushing Australians to shop for goods and access services online, scammers are constantly developing new and harmful ways to target victims.

We are hearing from callers to our frontlines the reality of what it means to be robbed by scammers not just once, but repeatedly. A recovery scam involves a second lot of scammers who claim that they can recover the victim’s lost money ‘for a price’, often using the victim’s data that’s been on-sold between crooks.

You might ask how could anyone be so gullible? That’s not the right question when people are dealing with industrial-scale espionage.

Scammers have victims’ details, and they are notoriously good at convincing people who have been scammed that they are a legitimate service, spreading false hope.  Recovery scam victims we talk to are often desperate with nowhere to turn. Is it at all surprising that they reach for the straws these slick con artists offer?

The recovery scam can be even more heinous than the initial scam. It deepens the trauma and further extends the emotional and financial rebuilding process for the victim. We hear of really complex scenarios where the scammers invest a lot of time and resources into grooming their victims. They can afford to do this, of course, because the business is so lucrative.

There is an extraordinary level of shame, and these crimes have lasting impacts. An estimated 30% of people who fall victim to scams will never tell anyone and live with guilt, shame and financial insecurity and very severe health impacts, including trauma.

There is no time to lose, we are calling on the Government to speed up the work to implement the Scam Prevention Framework with a fast, simple and fair pathway to compensation for victims. The billions lost, and lives ruined must be stopped.

ENDS

Stephanie Tonkin is available for comment.

Media contact:
Mark Pearce  mark@consumeraction.org.au  Tel: 0413 299 567