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There was a time when Fiona Muller's phone was ringing off the hook with calls from scammers who had been monitoring her movements to and from her home in the rural city of Mount Isa.
Key points:
- Older Australians suffer the biggest financial loss to scams
- As the cost of living increases, senior citizens are turning to local markets over online trading to make extra cash
- Security and lack of anonymity at brick-and-mortar markets were attractive to older sellers
"They had found out that I was travelling frequently for my children's health issues and I became a target for quite a while," she said, citing the mental stress of telephone scams which accounted for the biggest financial losses to Australians in 2022, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Aged in her sixties, Ms Muller is among the generation that lost the most money to scams last year at $120.7 million, an increase of 47.4 per cent on the previous year.
Next to telephone scams, social media was the second highest avenue used by fraudsters with $80.2 million lost in 2022, up 43 per cent.
As the cost of living increases Ms Muller says many people her age have been ditching online marketplaces, where they usually sell homemade products or personal items, and are instead turning to their local markets to make an extra buck.
"I steer clear of the online realm. I find there are too many bad things happening and it's daunting the idea of getting scammed again," she said.
"I feel safer selling things at the markets or the boot sales because there's a lot of people around me and we're all trying to do the same thing.
"At the end of the day, it means I make enough to help cover the rising prices of everything."
Liza Dowler runs a regular car boot sale in Mount Isa where she says more senior citizens are signing up.
"We held a scammers information session in partnership with local police and a huge issue highlighted by older sellers was the threat of scams when selling products online," she said.
"We all put stuff out on Facebook to sell and what we are hearing from members is their encounters with scammers that are trying to extract personal and financial information from them.
"That is really bamboozling for our older members who are used to just taking people at face value — they don't actually think there are other motives behind those interactions," Ms Dowler said.
Ms Dowler said the security and lack of anonymity at brick-and-mortar markets was attracting more older residents who wanted to generate some extra cash in a safe environment.
Aussies losing more than ever to scams
A record $3.1 billion was lost to scams in Australia in 2022 which was an increase of 80 per cent on 2021, the ACCC's Targeting Scams report found.
"Australians lost more money to scams than ever before in 2022, but the true cost of scams is much more than a dollar figure as they also cause emotional distress to victims, their families and businesses," ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.
"As scammers become increasingly sophisticated in their tactics, it is clear a co-ordinated response across government, law enforcement and the private sector is essential to combat scams more effectively."
The scamming crisis has seen the federal government deal out $58 million in funding to build a National Anti-Scam Centre which will start production on July 1.
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