Australians lose close to $1 billion in financial scams each year

According to reports from Scamwatch, Australians lost close to $1 billion in financial scams - here are the top 3 you need to look out for.

Video transcript

- Australians were scammed out of nearly a billion last year as reported to Scamwatch, other government agencies, and the four biggest banks. The average loss per person was $7,224. The top three scams causing the most financial harm to Australians were $328 million lost to investment scams, $131 million lost to romance scams, and $128 million lost to business email compromise.

People over the age of 65 were the most likely to be scammed at 21%, but the gender split was about even with men losing the most money from investment scams and women losing the most from dating and romance scams. The most common contact method by a scammer is via phone call at 47.7%, and the least common via the internet at 7%. Follow Yahoo Finance for more tips on how to keep your finances safe.