The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s annual Targeting Scams report shows a 47 per cent increase in reporting of scams in 2016, with Aussies losing $300 million dollars.
And almost half of those reporting cybercrimes are people aged over 55 years old.
Interpol identifies two kinds of cybercrime, firstly 'advanced' which are attacks against computer hardware and software.
Secondly 'cyber-enabled' crime in which traditional crimes such as fraud, crimes against children and terrorism are transformed with the internet.
Richard Davies, Technical Director in the Asia Pacific region at Context, Information, Security, says one of the trending cybercrimes is social engineering - a psychological manipulation.
Mr. Davies says even straight forward hard luck stories can easily fool people.
In May this year the impact of ransomware was felt across the globe.
The so-called ‘Wanna Cry’ ransomware attack affected systems in 150 countries including Australia.
Melbourne's Cyber Security Hub Director of Threat Intelligence Stas Filshtinskiy explains the growing threat of ransomware.
Stas Filshtinskiy says a way to spot cyber fraud is to use your common sense.
"Like you know in a real life, if something is too good to be true, that's most probably is an attempt to defraud you. If someone would come to you and tell you that I know a place where for 100 dollars they will give you the latest iPhone, you would not probably walk into that dark alley. If you get similar email from an absolute unknown place you shouldn't be clicking on any links or running any files coming [from] there."
Millions of credit card payments are processed online every day.
The Australian Payments Network (APN) latest report shows that 78 percent of card fraud in Australia occurs online.
APN’s Chief Executive Dr Leila Fourie says card holders should be vigilant with payments big or small.
When English is not your first language, understanding cybercrime can be an additional challenge.
Stas Filshtinsky says it's very important for non-English speaker migrant communities to get educated around cyber safety and security.
Yet, going online already implies surrendering some of private information.
Richard Davies advises to start with simple online hygiene.
Find advice and tips on how to protect yourself on the government’s Stay Smart Online website.
