The world of online dating has not been kind to women in Melbourne’s outer northern suburbs.
A study conducted by the Centre for Internet Safety at the University of Canberra found that middle-aged women living in the federal seat of Calwell were the most frequent victims of online dating scams in Australia.
The study’s author, Nigel Phair, said statistics from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reveal that women in Calwell aged 45 to 54 self-reported the greatest losses to online dating scams last year.
The centre’s report found that men in the same age bracket living in the federal seat of McEwen suffered the highest reported internet losses through job and investment scams.
Overall, the total amount lost from reported scams throughout Australia in 2014 was more than $64.5 million. This represents $5.20 for every Australian internet user.
More than $20 million was lost to dating scams alone.
Mr Phair said while there were plenty of government funded safety tips about using the internet, he felt these were piecemeal.
He said a holistic campaign was needed to protect internet users.
There were more than 12.4 million internet subscribers in Australia at the end of June 2014.
Mr Phair said online scams affected people in different ways; some lost their life savings while for others the greatest toll was emotional.
“They thought they trusted someone, only to be conned,” Mr Phair said.
“The more people connect online, the greater the need to understand the implications of online security, safety and privacy.”
Report suspicious online behaviour to SCAMwatch via www.scamwatch.gov.au.
