Australia scam losses rise as reports fall in 2025

BizCover has published analysis showing that scam losses reported in Australia rose to AUD $295.4 million in 2025 even as the number of reports fell.

The figures suggest fewer but more costly incidents, with the average loss per report rising to AUD $1,762.

ScamWatch data shows reports fell 20.8% to 167,667 from 211,609 a year earlier. Despite that decline, total losses rose 3.4%, suggesting successful scams are causing greater financial harm to victims.

Average losses per incident climbed 30.4% from AUD $1,350 to AUD $1,762. According to BizCover, this reflects a shift towards scams that may occur less often but have a bigger financial impact when they succeed.

Phishing losses

Phishing remained the most commonly reported scam type, with 65,361 reports in 2025. That was down 33% from the previous year, but losses linked to phishing rose 51.7%.

The average loss per phishing incident more than doubled from AUD $209 to AUD $476. BizCover linked the increase to more targeted attacks that mimic genuine messages from trusted organisations or internal contacts.

"For small businesses, this information is highly relevant and important," said Akshaye Kalkura, chief information security officer at BizCover.

"Lower report volumes do not necessarily mean businesses are safer. Instead, it indicates that when scams succeed, they are causing more financial damage than previous years."

He said phishing has changed significantly.

"Phishing attacks have evolved well beyond the generic spam emails people used to associate with scams," Kalkura said. "Today's phishing campaigns are often highly targeted and designed to mimic legitimate communications from suppliers, banks or internal teams. When attackers gain access to credentials or payment systems, the financial impact can escalate quickly for small businesses."

Online channels accounted for the largest share of losses at AUD $130.4 million. Phone scams followed at AUD $70.1 million, while email accounted for AUD $54.6 million.

Jobs and billing

Jobs and employment scams recorded the sharpest rise in reports among the categories highlighted in the analysis. Reports increased 102.5%, while losses rose 81.5% to AUD $24.9 million.

False billing scams also caused substantial damage, generating AUD $23.6 million in losses. The figures highlight ongoing risks for smaller firms that rely on fast-moving recruitment and payment processes.

BizCover's analysis also found that investment scams accounted for AUD $172.2 million in losses in 2025, more than half of all recorded losses across the categories reviewed. The average loss per report in that segment reached AUD $25,376.

Kalkura said these schemes often rely on a mix of trust and pressure.

"High-loss schemes often succeed because they exploit trust and urgency," Kalkura said. "In an investment scam, for example, scammers will usually try to build credibility and gain a victim's trust. They then increase the pressure, pushing the target to act fast so they can steal the money before the fraud is discovered."

Changing tactics

The analysis said artificial intelligence is making fraudulent approaches harder to spot. It highlighted the use of AI to create emails, invoices and messages that closely resemble legitimate business communications.

"AI tools allow fraudsters to generate highly convincing emails, invoices and messages that closely resemble legitimate business communications. That makes it harder for business owners and their employees to spot phishing attempts and increases the likelihood that a single message could lead to a costly mistake," Kalkura said.

Beyond technology, many scams still succeed because they exploit routine business activity, including payments handling and requests for information.

Losses among 18- to 24-year-olds rose 87.3% year on year, the fastest increase of any age group in the dataset. Male losses increased 15.9% despite fewer reported incidents, with men losing more per scam on average.

Kalkura said businesses should focus on basic controls as well as technical defences.

"Fraud activity is constantly evolving, and businesses need to evolve their defences as well," Kalkura said. "AI is changing the playing field in 2026. But at the same time, many scams succeed not because of sophisticated technology, but because they exploit vulnerabilities in everyday business processes."

He outlined several measures that could reduce risk for small firms.

"Simple safeguards can make a major difference," Kalkura said. "Staff training, using multi-factor authentication, and establishing clear procedures for payments or requests for information can all help lower exposure."