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While popular belief says recovering money lost to scammers is next to impossible, the AFP has revealed it returned $45 million in money lost to scams over the past three years.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) made the announcement ahead of Cyber Security Awareness Month in October.
During the month, the AFP will release a series of 11 90-second videos educating individuals and businesses alike on how they can combat scams, from business email compromise schemes to money muling and more.
But when it comes to actually recovering funds once lost, the AFP has found there is one common denominator no matter how the funds were lost in the first place. According to AFP Cybercrime Operations Commander Chris Goldsmid, reporting the crime and loss of funds early – within 24 hours – is key. Those who report to ReportCyber and their own banks are far more likely to get all or some of their money back.
“Whether your business is big or small, everyone is at risk, so it’s important to know what to do to protect your business from cyber criminals and stay safe online,” Commander Goldsmid said in a statement.
“If you’ve been a victim of business email compromise or any cyber crime, make sure you report it immediately to ReportCyber at Cyber.gov.au/report and you should contact your financial institution if you suspect any unusual account activity.
“If you believe you have been targeted, make compromised accounts secure and notify any impacted third parties. Cyber criminals use these accounts to try and defraud people and businesses out of money or goods.
“To protect your business and accounts, don’t open links or attachments in suspicious emails or from people you don’t know and train your employees to recognise potential phishing emails.
Even Australia’s big four banks are helping the AFP, with each one having their own staff on secondment to the AFP’s Joint Policing Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, which works across all of Australia’s policing jurisdictions to counter “high-harm and high-volume cyber crime”.
“Having banks work closely with the AFP has been invaluable. All four banks are a part of Operation Helix, an industry-led targeting project designed to identify and combat the biggest sources of harm across the financial sector through cyber-enabled fraud,’’ Commander Goldsmid said.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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