THE HON STEPHEN JONES MP
ASSISTANT TREASURER
MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES
MEMBER FOR WHITLAM
Shocking new data has revealed there were more than 736 local cases reported to Australia’s national identity and cyber incident community support service, IDCARE.
Approximately half of all cases recorded in the region involved data breaches. Telephone, SMS and email phishing, as well as investment scams were also among the most prevalent locally.
There were reported losses of more than $1.3 million in Wollongong, while in the Southern Highlands residents lost an average of over $100,000.
Data Source: IDCARE (January-July 2023):
|
LGA: |
Number of Individual Cases: |
Number of Community Engagements: |
Total Money Lost: |
Average Money Lost: |
|
Shellharbour |
196 |
627 |
$246,446 |
$13,691 |
|
Wingecarribee |
137 |
438 |
$1,329,760 |
$102,289 |
|
Wollongong |
280 |
896 |
$1,376,703 |
$49,168 |
|
Kiama |
123 |
394 |
$111,181 |
$13,898 |
|
Total: |
736 |
2,355 |
$3,064,090 |
$45,733 |
*Average is calculated for people that suffered financial loss only.
Last month, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Financial Services and Member for Whitlam Stephen Jones officially opened the new headquarters of IDCARE in Queensland. The purpose-built facility will enable staff to continue to help Australians who are impacted by scams, cybercrime and identity theft.
For more information about IDCARE, visit: https://www.idcare.org/
Quotes attributable to Member for Whitlam, Stephen Jones:
“Our nation is facing a scamdemic, and what this data shows is that Illawarra and Southern Highlands residents are not immune to these criminals.”
“We’re talking about $3 million of hard-earned cash being lost to things like investment, online shopping and dating scams.”
“Work is underway to combat scammers. We have IDCARE doing a great job providing support to people in our community, as well as the Federal Government’s National Anti-Scam Centre which is currently targeting investment scams.”
