This is the second report in the Cybercrime in Australia series, which describes cybercrime victimisation, help-seeking and harms among Australian computer users. This year, 10,335 online Australians participated in the Australian Cybercrime Survey. Overall, we found that rates of victimisation remain high, formal help-seeking remains low, and a large proportion of victims are negatively impacted by cybercrime.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents had been a victim of online abuse and harassment in the 12 months prior to the survey, 20.6 percent had been a victim of malware, 21.9 percent had been a victim of identity crime and misuse, and 9.5 percent had been a victim of fraud and scams. The prevalence of online abuse and harassment, malware and fraud and scams was lower among 2024 respondents than in the 2023 survey. Poly-victimisation was also lower this year, and we observed a significant decrease in data breaches.
As with last year, certain sections of the community were more likely than others to fall victim. A smaller proportion of respondents who owned or operated a small to medium business were victims of malware and fraud and scams in 2024 than in 2023. However, respondents were less likely in 2024 than in 2023 to say they were using various online safety strategies, and there was little change in the prevalence of high-risk online behaviours.
While most cybercrime continues to go unreported, a higher proportion of respondents sought help from police or ReportCyber for certain types of cybercrime, particularly among small to medium business owners and operators. Victims were more likely to recover money from identity crime and misuse incidents in 2024 than in 2023. A higher proportion of victims reported being negatively impacted by cybercrime in 2024, particularly for social and health related harms.
References
URLs correct as at February 2025
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2024a. National, state and territory population, December 2023. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/dec-2023
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2024b. Estimated resident and projected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 18 years and over, medium series, sex by states and territories and Australia—2011 to 2031. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-and-projections-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/2011-2031/32380DO005_20112031.xlsx
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2024c. Population estimates by LGA, Significant Urban Area, Remoteness Area, Commonwealth Electoral Division and State Electoral Division, 2001 to 2023. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-population/2022-23/32180DS0004_2001-23.xlsx
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2024d. Labour Force, Australia, July 2024. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/jul-2024
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2022a. Cultural diversity: Census. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2022b. National Health Survey: First results methodology, 2020–21. https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/national-health-survey-methodology/2020-21
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) 2024. Targeting scams: Report of the National Anti-Scam Centre on scams activity 2023. Canberra: ACCC. https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/serial-publications/targeting-scams-reports-on-scams-activity/targeting-scams-report-of-the-accc-on-scams-activity-2023
Australian Government 2022. National Plan to Combat Cybercrime 2022. Canberra: Attorney-General’s Department. https://www.ag.gov.au/crime/publications/2022-national-plan-combat-cybercrime
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2022. People with disability in Australia 2022. Canberra: AIHW. https://doi.org/10.25816/5ec5be4ced179
Australian Signals Directorate 2024. Annual cyber threat report, July 2023 to June 2024. Canberra: Australian Signals Directorate. https://www.cyber.gov.au/about-us/view-all-content/reports-and-statistics/annual-cyber-threat-report-2023-2024
Australian Signals Directorate 2020. Annual cyber threat report, July 2019 to June 2020. Canberra: ASD. https://www.cyber.gov.au/about-us/view-all-content/reports-and-statistics/asdacsc-annual-cyber-threat-report-july-2019-june-2020
Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) 2025. Guidelines for cyber security incidents. https://www.cyber.gov.au/resources-business-and-government/essential-cybersecurity/ism/cybersecurity-guidelines/guidelines-cybersecurity-incidents
Australian Taxation Office 2024. Tax rates – Australian resident. https://www.ato.gov.au/tax-rates-and-codes/tax-rates-australian-residents
Callegaro M & DiSogra C 2008. Computing response metrics for online panels. Public Opinion Quarterly 72(5): 1008–1032. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfn065
Cheung KL, ten Klooster PM, Smit C, de Vries H & Pieterse ME 2017. The impact of nonresponse bias due to sampling in public health studies: A comparison of voluntary versus mandatory recruitment in a Dutch national survey on adolescent health. BMC Public Health 17: 276. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4189-8
Kypri K, Samaranayaka A, Connor J, Langley JD & Maclennan B 2011. Non-response bias in a web-based health behaviour survey of New Zealand tertiary students. Preventive Medicine 53(4–5): 274–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.07.017
Morgan A & Voce I 2022. Data breaches and cybercrime victimisation. Statistical Bulletin no. 40. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.52922/sb78832
Morgan A, Dowling C, Brown R, Mann M, Voce I & Smith M 2016. Evaluation of the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network. Report prepared for CrimTrac. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-06/acorn_evaluation_report_.pdf
Muller CJ & MacLehose RF 2014. Estimating predicted probabilities from logistic regression: Different methods correspond to different target populations. International Journal of Epidemiology 43(3): 962–970. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyu029
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner 2024. Notifiable Data Breaches Report: January to June 2024. https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/notifiable-data-breaches/notifiable-data-breaches-publications/notifiable-data-breaches-report-january-to-june-2024
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner 2023. Notifiable Data Breaches Report: January to June 2023. Sydney: OAIC. https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/notifiable-data-breaches/notifiable-data-breaches-publications/notifiable-data-breaches-report-january-to-june-2023
Pennay D et al. 2023. Results from the 2022 Australian Comparative Study of Survey Methods. Canberra: Australian National University. https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/results-2022-australian-comparative-study-survey-methods-acssm
Pennay DW, Neiger D, Lavrakas PJ & Borg K 2018. The Online Panels Benchmarking Study: A total survey error comparison of findings from probability-based surveys and non-probability online panel surveys in Australia. CSRM & SRC Methods Paper no. 2/2018. Canberra: Australian National University. https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/online-panels-benchmarking-study-total-survey-error-comparison-findings
Voce I & Morgan A 2025. Developing a harm index for individual victims of cybercrime. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 706. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.52922/ti77666
Voce I & Morgan A 2023a. Cybercrime in Australia 2023. Statistical Report no. 43. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.52922/sr77031
Voce I & Morgan A 2023b. Online behaviour, life stressors and profit-motivated cybercrime victimisation. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 675. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.52922/ti77062
Yeager DS, Krosnick JA, Chang L, Javitz HS, Levendusky MS, Simpser A & Wang R 2011. Comparing the accuracy of RDD telephone surveys and internet surveys conducted with probability and non-probability samples. Public Opinion Quarterly 75(4): 709–47. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfr020
Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms
- Abstract
- Summary
- Victimisation decreased for some cybercrimes but remains high overall
- Vulnerable sections of the community continue to be over-represented as victims
- Help-seeking among victims has increased, but cybercrime remains significantly under-reported
- Health and social harms were the most common, but financial losses and impacts on small to medium businesses changed little
- Introduction
- Australian Cybercrime Survey
- What has changed this year?
- Method
- Victimisation
- Online abuse and harassment
- Malware
- Identity crime and misuse
- Fraud and scams
- Changes in victimisation
- Poly-victimisation
- Victim characteristics
- Changes in victimisation among select groups of respondents
- Digital literacy and online safety strategies
- Digital literacy
- Online safety strategies
- Help-seeking by victims following the most recent incident
- Sources of help, advice or support
- Seeking help and reporting to police or to ReportCyber
- Official reporting to police and ReportCyber among select groups of respondents
- Changes in help-seeking behaviour
- Reasons for official reporting to police or ReportCyber
- Outcomes of official reports to police or ReportCyber
- Time between cybercrime incidents and official reporting
- Reasons for not reporting to police or ReportCyber
- Impacts of victimisation
- Financial losses
- Impacts on individual victims
- Impacts on small to medium businesses
- Changes in harm to individuals and small businesses
- References
- Appendix: Survey design, sampling and weighting
- Key definitions
- Survey design
- Research ethics
- Sampling and weighting
- Comparison between 2023 and 2024 samples