Scam Trends Older Australians Should Watch For

Scams change with the seasons. The stories get retold to fit whatever is in the news, and new tools give the criminals new tricks. The good news is that, underneath, they nearly all rely on the same few moves: a sense of urgency, a request for money or details, and a hope that you will act before you check.

This is a calm overview of the scams most active in Australia at the moment, so you know what is doing the rounds. You do not need to memorise them all. A handful of simple habits, set out at the end, protects you from almost every one. You will find more advice like this in our main guide to staying safe online.

The scams doing the rounds in Australia

Fake bank and delivery texts

A text claims there is a problem with your bank account, or that a parcel is held up and a small fee is owed. Both lead to a copycat website that collects your details. These are covered in our guides on bank text scams and courier and parcel scams.

Phone calls pretending to be official

A caller claims to be from your bank, the ATO, Centrelink, or a well-known company, often warning of a problem that needs fixing now. Tech support versions claim your computer has a virus. See phone call scams in Australia for how these play out.

Romance and investment scams

These are slower and more personal. A new online friendship or a too-good-to-be-true investment builds trust over weeks, then turns to money. Investment scams cause the single largest losses in Australia, so treat any unexpected offer, especially one promising high returns, with real caution.

Newer tricks using AI

Scammers can now copy a familiar voice from a short recording, then phone pretending to be a family member in trouble. Fake websites and adverts are also getting more polished. The defences are the same calm habits, plus a family code word.

What scams cost Australians, and why older people are targeted

It helps to see the scale, calmly. The National Anti-Scam Centre’s latest Targeting Scams report put combined losses to Australians at about $2.18 billion in 2025, across more than 480,000 reports. Investment scams accounted for the largest share, followed by payment redirection and romance scams.

Older Australians carry more than their share of this. People aged 65 and over make up around one in six of the population, but accounted for roughly a quarter of the money lost through Scamwatch. The reason is not that older people are gullible. It is that they are more likely to have savings, a phone number that has been around a long time, and a habit of answering the phone politely. Knowing the tricks, and never being rushed, is the protection, not avoiding technology.

There is also more help on your side than there used to be. Under Australia’s new Scams Prevention Framework, banks, phone companies and social media platforms now have legal duties to detect, warn about and act on scams. Banks have removed clickable links from their text messages and added a name check before you transfer money, so a genuine message and a fake one are easier to tell apart.

From 1 July 2026 there is another layer of protection on text messages. Any organisation that sends texts using a name in place of a number, such as “myGov” or your bank, must now register that name on the ACMA SMS Sender ID Register. A message from a name that has not been registered shows up as “Unverified”. That label does not always mean the message is a scam, but it is a clear sign to slow down and not tap any links until you are sure it is genuine.

The habits that protect you from nearly all of them

• Slow down. Real organisations do not punish you for taking your time to check.
• Never click links in unexpected texts or emails. Go to the website or app yourself.
• If a call asks for money or details, hang up and call back on a number you already have.
• Never pay with gift cards, cryptocurrency or a transfer to someone you have not met.
• Talk it over with someone you trust. Secrecy is a scammer’s best friend.

Setting up two-factor authentication on your email and banking adds a strong extra lock, so that even a stolen password is not enough on its own.

Where to report and get help

Forward scam texts free to 7726. Report any scam to Scamwatch at scamwatch.gov.au (an online form, no phone line), and report anything involving money or accounts to ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au or the Australian Cyber Security Hotline on 1300 292 371. For help if your details have been exposed, call IDCARE on 1800 595 160. If you have lost money, contact your bank first. You can browse all our safety guides in the Scam Safety section.