Risk factors for advance fee fraud victimisation
- Australia: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011.
- 6p
Fraud is Australia’s most costly form of crime with the Australian Institute of Criminology estimating that in excess of $8.5b was lost to fraud in 2005 (Rollings 2008). Consumer fraud alone has been found to cost Australians almost $1b each year (ABS 2008c). Most types of consumer fraud entail the use of so-called ‘advance fee’ techniques in which individuals are tricked into paying money an ‘advance fee’—upfront in order to secure an anticipated financial or other benefit at a later date.