Recently, relevant institutions in the United States and Australia have released data on domestic fraud losses for the year 2022.
United States: Fraud losses of up to $4 billion in 2022
In 2022, American consumers suffered losses of over $4 billion (approximately 27.57 billion RMB) due to investment fraud. This number has increased by 116% compared to 2021. Since 2018, investment fraud in the United States has increased by nearly 4000%.
According to data analyzed by Atlas VPN researchers and several US government agencies, many scams use social media platforms, websites, mobile applications, and other channels to reach potential victims.
By proficiently using online tools to engage in fraud strategies, fraudsters' fraud amounts are increasing year by year. Data shows that in 2018, the median loss of investment fraud in the United States was $2262; By 2022, the median loss of investment fraud had risen to $21727.
A phenomenon: More and more investment fraud involves false encrypted transactions. So far, the most common payment method in investment scams is cryptocurrency. Data on 30162 reported investment fraud cases shows that investors have lost over $880 million in cryptocurrency.
Australia: $3.1 billion loss due to fraud in 2022
The latest data released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Council (ACCC) shows that in 2022, Australians suffered a record loss of AUD 3.1 billion (approximately RMB 14.3 billion) due to fraud. Compared to 2021, the increase in losses was as high as 80%. In last year's fraud losses, $1.5 billion was caused by investment fraud.
The data released by ACCC is compiled based on complaints received by some domestic institutions, including Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crime Exchange (AFCX), IDCARE, and other government agencies. This is a confirmed fraud loss that has been reported and re recorded, and the actual amount is much higher than this figure.
The number of fraud reports received by Scamwatch has decreased by 16.5% compared to 2021, totaling 239237. However, financial losses increased by 76%, totaling over AUD 569 million. The Scamwatch report emphasizes that the losses per victim increased significantly by 50% last year, with an average of nearly AUD 20000 per case.
ACCC Vice Chairman Catriona Lowe said, "In 2022, Australians lost more money due to fraud than ever before. In fact, the losses caused by fraud are much higher than the announced $3.1 billion.
