Around $2.2 billion was lost to card fraud over the 2022/23 financial year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported.
These losses were incurred by around 1.8 billion people, or close to nine per cent of the population.
The prevalence of card fraud is on the rise, the ABS, with the 2022/23 incidence of 8.7 per cent up from. 8.1 per cent the year before and well up from 6.9 per cent in 22020/21.
The card fraud victimisation rate varied by age, ranging from 3.9 per cent for persons aged 15 to 24 years, to 12 per cent for persons aged 45 to 54 years.
The median amount withdrawn or used per incident was $200.
The net loss (to card holders) after any reimbursements paid for all incidents was $476 million, the ABS said – meaning banks are wearing 78 per cent of fraud loss.
The ABS data series represents a material multiple of the card fraud losses reported by the industry themselves.
Late last year, AusPayNet estimated fraud on payment cards increased 36 per cent to $678 million, around 30 per cent of the ABS estimate.
In contrast, consumers experience losses from scams declined a little in 2022/23.
Over the last financial year an estimated 2.5 per cent of persons (514,300) experienced a scam, which was similar to the rate in 2021/22 (2.7 per cent).
The most common type of scam people experienced was a buying or selling scam, followed by an information request or phishing scam.
One element of the ABS confirms that banks may be doing better in tracking (if not combatting) scams.
The proportion of persons notifying or being notified by a bank or financial institution increased from 32 per cent in 2021/22 to 49 per cent in 2022/23.