iscover 
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), an estimated 3.2 million Australians, or around one in seven people, experienced personal fraud in 2024–25.
Furthermore, between January and June 2026, the National Anti-Scam Centre received 5,262 reports of bank impersonation scams, with losses of $3.25 million.
At Bankwest, phishing accounted for 52 per cent of scam cases last financial year, making it the top scam type by exposure value across all demographics and the only scam type to increase by volume year on year.
Earlier in the year, HSBC also fell foul of scammers, with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) ordering the bank to pay a $35 million penalty for its failures to protect its customers.
$80k lost
While many scams are uncovered and prevented before causing damage, some still slip through, with brokers highlighting cases in their careers where clients have fallen victim to scams.
Speaking on Broker Daily Uncut, Finni principal Eva Loisance outlined two similar cases, one of which involved the client who lost $80,000.
“We’d been going through the process of finance, and then the client got an email from the solicitor saying that settlement is in three days. Here’s the remaining funds you need to transfer to our account. Perfect timing,” she said.
Loisance said that the solicitor and the scammer had near identical email addresses, save for a special character in the email that left the text looking nearly indistinguishable.
“The client transfers the money, and two days later I called and said, ‘Hey, you still haven’t transferred the money to the right account. What’s going on?’” Loisance said.
“He says he has, but when he logged on, the money wasn’t there. That’s when they realised the email was different. Everything was fake, and the money was gone.”
Loisance said that it took the client over two years to recover the money and had to resubmit the application with 95 per cent loan rather than 80 per cent.
She said: “It was an extremely stressful time because not only did they lose $80,000, but they could have lost the property as well if they didn’t have more funds to actually make it work. And this happened twice.”
According to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), talking to others and verifying information can be an important way to prevent scams.
However, a survey by the bank’s Behavioural Science Centre found that many scam victims did not speak to someone before acting, with 34 per cent saying they felt embarrassed, 33 per cent saying they did not think it was necessary, and 31 per cent believing they could handle it themselves.
Similarly, Loisance said that simple verification was one of the best defences against scams: “I would always recommend calling up and confirming account details over the phone. It may take an extra five minutes, but you may have an extra $100,000 in your pocket.”
Lenders step up efforts
While scam activity has been rising in incidence and sophistication, so have efforts to quell it.
Australia New Zealand Banking Group said that despite “increased scam activity”, scam losses at the bank fell by 24 per cent compared with the same period the previous year.
During that time, ANZ also prevented and recovered more than $100 million in scam and fraud-related funds.
ASIC has warned that bank impersonation scams can come through emails, texts, or calls, often creating urgency and pressuring people to move money or share security details.
The regulator said that no group or industry is safe and gave three steps to follow:
- Stop: Don’t feel pressured to respond or share money or personal information.
- Check: Verify who you’re dealing with using contact details you find yourself.
- Protect: Report suspected scams to your bank, Cyber.gov.au, and Scamwatch.
[Related: Warning issued as bank scams grow in sophistication]
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