The ACCC has warned older Australians need to be vigilant against scams, with cyber criminals fleecing close to $3 billion from the country last year. Now authorities are calling on big tech to step in, to keep people safe from scammers.

### Calls for Big Tech to Reimburse Victims of Scammers

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a warning to older Australians, urging them to stay alert against scams. According to the ACCC, cybercriminals scammed close to $3 billion from Australians last year. In light of these alarming figures, there are now calls for major technology companies to take action and help protect individuals from scammers.

Scammers employ numerous tactics to defraud their victims, including creating deepfake videos of prominent individuals like tech billionaires, falsely promising lucrative investment opportunities. Other common strategies involve selling nonexistent show tickets, offering fake job opportunities, and endorsing products under false pretenses. The ACCC has observed a particularly troubling rise in scams conducted through social media platforms.

A recent report by the ACCC reveals that Australians reported a record 600,000 scams last year, with losses amounting to $2.7 billion. This represents a slight decrease from 2022, yet the figures remain substantially higher than in previous years. The report highlights that proactive interventions can be effective in mitigating such fraudulent activities.

Among the myriad of scam types, fake investment schemes were identified as the most financially damaging, followed by remote access scams, romance-related frauds, phishing attempts via deceptive links, and payment redirection scams. Notably, individuals over the age of 65 were the most frequently targeted group, largely because they are perceived as having substantial savings and may struggle to identify fraudulent online ads.

In response to the surging scam-related losses, the Australian federal government is advocating for the instituting of a mandatory code that would hold telecommunications companies, banks, and social media platforms accountable, requiring them to reimburse victims for losses incurred via their services. The government emphasizes the need for these corporations to proactively eliminate fraudulent content on their networks.



Calls for big tech to reimburse victims of scammers

Tech billionaire promising to make you rich, too. You have a unique opportunity to invest. This isn't Elon Musk, though. It's a deepfake created by scammers. Pretend celebrity endorsement among their many tactics. There's also the non-existent show tickets and hoax job offers, all designed to steal hard-earned money. Social media losses are the one area where we're still seeing things going up, and that's unacceptable. A record 600,000 scams were reported last year, according to a new report by the ACCC. Australians fleeced $2.7 billion. That's down on 2022, but still significantly higher than years prior. This report demonstrates that interventions can work. The most costly scams by far were fake investments, followed by remote access, romance traps, phishing through bogus links and payment redirection. Over 65s targeted the most because they're more likely to have savings and may not easily spot a fake ad online. That demographic group is less familiar. They're clearly not digital natives. The federal government now wants to introduce a mandatory code for telcos, banks and social media giants, making them liable to reimburse victims who lose money to scams through their platforms. And they can be doing far more to target and to pull down the damaging criminal content that is appearing on their network. Chloe Boris for 10 News First.

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