People living with a disability are almost 40 percent more likely to be victims of fraud, than people without a disability.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Head of Crime Statistics William Milne said the latest data showed an estimated 1.1 million Australians with disability experienced fraud in a 12-month period.
“Today’s report shows that 18 percent of people with disability experienced fraud in a 12-month period, compared with 13 percent of people without disability,” Mr Milne said.
He said people with disability were more likely to experience all types of personal fraud, such as card fraud and scams, and were less likely to receive a full reimbursement from their bank or financial institution.
“We found 67 percent of people with disability who experienced card fraud got a full refund from their card issuer.
“This was lower than for people without disability, where 75 percent received a full reimbursement.”
Mr Milne said the latest data also showed that 5.5 percent of people with disability experienced physical or threatened assault in a 12-month period, compared with 2.8 percent of people without disability.
He said people with disability were more likely to be physically assaulted by someone they knew and to experience assault in their own home.
“We found 64 per cent of people with disability who experienced physical assault knew the perpetrator, compared with 50 percent of people without disability.”
