Two in five scammed people don’t bother to complain because they doubt anything will change. Photo: Shutterstock
Cybercrime declined in Australia last year, but fraud and scams bucked the trend and victims have given up complaining, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has warned, as an audit found the government’s Scams Prevention Framework (SPF) is still a work in progress.
Fully 45.5 per cent of the 10,593 participants in the AIC’s latest annual cybercrime survey, Cybercrime in Australia 2025, said they had been a victim of cybercrime in the previous 12 months, with 11.1 per cent hit by fraud and scams – up from 9.7 per cent the year before.
Consumer and seller scams accounted for 37.7 per cent of all frauds and scams experienced by those surveyed – explained by AIC because “low value, high volume” online purchases “create many opportunities for offenders to exploit anonymity [and] urgency.”
With those relatively less complex scams making up the majority of attacks, AIC noted //the proportion of respondents that had financial accounts compromised dropped – from 17.7 per cent in 2024 to 15.8 per cent last year.
“This may be in part due to actions banks have taken in recent years to harden their identity crime controls,” the report notes, “which have reduced the opportunities for criminals to compromise financial accounts” even as regulators increase scrutiny on banks.
The AIC survey also found small and medium businesses increasingly targeted, with one in four reporting that they were a victim of cybercrime in the past year.
Many victims experienced multiple incidents, indicators or symptoms of the same type of cybercrime during those 12 months, while 44.3 per cent of all victims said they had been hit by two or more types of cybercrimes during the 12 months prior.
Scammers are tapping AI to increase their intensity this year, exploiting enthusiasm about the World Cup, package deliveries, romantic partners, cheap electronics and more – and the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) fielding 45,816 scam reports in the first quarter alone.
The AIC warned the figures are likely highly underreported, with just 1 in eight victims reporting incidents to authorities.
“Cybercrime is not only widespread, but evolving, with scams and fraud continuing to grow as Australians lower their online defences,” AIC Deputy Director Rick Brown said, calling for “stronger awareness, better online habits, and continued investment in prevention.”
Scams Prevention Framework still just half-baked
The AIC figures come as an ANAO audit found that Treasury has “largely appropriate” plans for implementing the Scams Prevention Framework (SPF) but must resolve 31 delays to the process and is yet to decide how it will tell if the scheme is actually working.
The report evaluated implementation of the SPF, for which Treasury is liaising with relevant organisations to deliver a full SPF policy and legal framework by the end of 2027.
The rules include measures requiring regulated companies to report actionable scam intelligence (ASI) that will help the NASC react more quickly to new scam threats.
Each agency has been given responsibility for part of the SPF, with ACMA designing a code of conduct for the telecoms sector, Treasury for the banking industry and digital platforms and AFCA tasked with handling scam complaints about telcos, banks, and big tech.
ACCC will serve as a “general regulator” and will enforce individual companies’ obligations under the SPF Act while coordinating the surveillance of existing scam-tracking bodies.
Treasury will oversee the SPF’s performance – yet despite its remit, the ANAO found that while the SPF design is progressing, Treasury – “as stewards of the plan…. [has] no plans extending to reviewing the effectiveness of the framework in action”.
“This requires oversight of risks emerging in the framework identified by regulatory bodies,” ANAO noted, and “by not having oversight of these risks, Treasury is not well placed to provide advice to government on the effectiveness of the SPF as a whole.”
A structured framework for complaints
Although it still hasn’t developed a mechanism for review and reporting on the SPF’s performance, ANAO found Treasury has laid out “largely appropriate implementation plans which provide oversight over SPF implementation milestones and shared risks.”
Like ANAO, consumers will be closely watching the SPF’s outcomes – with a recent CPRC/Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) report finding four in five surveyed Australians experienced at least one problem with a digital services provider last year.
Fully 8 per cent said they had been exposed to a scam, with two in five never bothering to complain because they doubt anything will change.
“When things go wrong online, Australians are too often left to fend for themselves, navigating complaint processes that are hard to access and navigate, and frequently fail to deliver meaningful outcomes,” CPRC deputy CEO and digital policy director Chandni Gupta said.
“Too many people are getting stuck in a complaints loop – unable to reach a real person, passed between automated systems, and left without resolution or closure.”
“This problem harms individuals, undermines trust in the digital economy and weakens the accountability needed to ensure markets work for people.”
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