New data from Australia’s national identity and cyber incident community support service IDCARE shows the Southern Highlands is a hotspot for scammers.
In the first half of this year, Wingecarribee residents lost more than $1.32 million dollars to scams.
That involved 137 individual cases and 438 community engagements.
The average loss across the Wingecarribee was $102,289 ( average is calculated for people that suffered financial loss only ).
In other LGA’s, more than $1.3 million dollars was lost in Wollongong.
In Shellharbour it was $246,000 and in Kiama $111,000.
Member for Whitlam and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones had the following to say:
“Our nation is facing a scamdemic, and what this data shows is that Illawarra and Southern Highlands residents are not immune to these criminals.”
