Toowoomba, Cairns and the Gold Coast are among the nation’s scam hotspots.
New data from Westpac has highlighted Australian postcodes with the highest rates of scams.
Westpac Head of Fraud Prevention Ben Young said criminals were increasingly exploiting high growth locations and older customers in suburbs across the country.
Mr Young said the data, which was based on reports to Westpac, revealed the most scammed postcodes across the country contained fast-growing suburbs such as Liverpool, Campbelltown and Gosford in New South Wales and Tarneit and Werribee in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Queensland Toowoomba, Cairns, Southport, Surfers Paradise and Nerang were home to the highest number of reports.
“The scams reported to us stretch from the fast-growing suburbs of Western Sydney where there is a relatively new hub of economic activity, to the tourist centre of Surfers Paradise and over to the West. The current scam-demic we’re facing is widespread,” Mr Young said .
“Scammers were having the biggest impact in communities with increasing economic activity, or those with ageing populations.”
Mr Young said while scam numbers were naturally higher in states with larger populations, the rate of scams was highest in Western Australia and Queensland at 3.6 and 3.5 scams reported per 1000 customers respectively.
He said while scammers did not discriminate when it came to the age of their targets, the data revealed 61 to 75-year-olds reported the highest number of scams, accounting for almost one third (32 percent) of all reported cases.
“The top scam types driving the largest losses are investment scams, followed by business email compromise scams, remote access scams, romance scams and impersonation scams,” he said.
“Scammers aren’t necessarily out there stalking the streets of these postcodes. They’re constantly evolving the way they target people, with many scams originating online or on social media platforms.”
