Phishing attacks high on the scam list

Phishing attacks, which often target bank account details, remain one of the most common scams reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

According to the ACCC's 2014 report on scam activity, phishing was the second most common type of scam reported last year. There were 12,982 contacts relating to phishing scams.

Phishing refers to emails, text messages or websites that trick people into giving out their personal and banking information. These messages pretend to come from legitimate businesses - normally banks, other financial institutions or telecommunications providers.

Of the 12,982 contacts only 288 reported losses. Reported losses from phishing were low compared with the big items - fraudulent dating and romance scams (which resulted in A$27.9 million of losses) and investment scams ($12 million of losses).

However, the ACCC said that while direct losses from phishing scams were low, this type of scam often results in the information gathered being used in a different fraud that takes place at a later time.

In total 92,000 people reported being victims of a scam last year. Of those 12 per cent lost money - down from 14 per cent in the previous year.

Financial loss from scam activity declined. In 2014 $82 million was reported lost - eight per cent less than the previous year.