Scams Awareness Week: what it actually means for your money

This week (24-28 August) is Scams Awareness Week, the National Anti-Scam Centre's annual campaign to get Australians talking more openly about scams — reporting them, recognising them, and protecting the people around them. This year's theme is “No one’s just a number,” a reminder that behind every statistic is someone who lost money, trust, or both.

And the statistics are worth sitting with. In the first six months of 2026 alone, Australians reported $554.1 million in losses across law enforcement and Scamwatch channels combined. Investment scams were the single costliest category, accounting for $80.4 million of that - more than any other type of scam.

That last figure is the one that matters most for this audience. If you hold investments, run an SMSF, or are approaching retirement with a lump sum to manage, you are the exact profile scammers are targeting.

Why investment scams work

Investment scams don't look like scams. They're built to look like a genuine opportunity; a returns table, a company name that sounds credible, sometimes even a fake “adviser” with a professional-looking LinkedIn profile. The tell isn't sophistication; it's the shape of the offer:

It's not just investment scams

The same “Stop. Check. Protect.” logic applies across the other scam types doing the rounds this year, several of which show up regularly in the accounts we hear about from clients and their families:

Three checks worth building into habit

You can report a scam or check current warnings at the National Anti-Scam Centre's website: scamwatch.gov.au.

Funded Futures Financial Services Socials