Australians are expected to suffer record losses to scammers exceeding $532 million by the end of this year, surpassing half a billion dollars for the first time, according to the latest Scamwatch report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The banking industry is increasingly becoming a favourite among cyber criminals, according to security vendor MailGuard, which has detected a new phishing email scam purporting to be from Westpac.

Australians who are older, Indigenous or have disabilities reported record losses to scammers in 2018, according to the latest Scamwatch report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.