Aussies lose $1.3 billion - or is that $200 million? - to online fraudsters

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 06 July 2010 16:12

Business IT - Security

A new survey suggest many Australians aren't being careful enough when using their credit cards online. But the amounts actually being lost may not be as bad as first appears.

According to a survey conducted by Galaxy Research for VeriSign, one in ten Internet-using Australians have lost an average of $A1000 to criminals during the past 12 months.

But of that $A1.286 billion, only $A200 million - or less than $A150 per head - remains unrecovered, company officials said. Being $A150 out of pocket sounds a lot less painful than $A1000, but that's still $A150 too much.

At least these numbers show that the mechanisms for recovering money lost through fraudulent credit card transactions are working reasonably well.

"The best way for Australians to stay safe online is to make sure they're always checking for enhanced security when submitting personal information," said Jim Drake, VeriSign's general manager for Asia Pacific.

These measures include checking for the padlock icon or green bar in the browser, or looking for the VeriSign tick logo on a site and checking the the details presented by the certificate match those of the company operating the site.

Who is - and more importantly, isn't - doing this? See page 2.