Cyber crime is a growth market in Australia: Online brigands and bandits swindled targets out of AU$2.9 Million in 2016.  That's more than four times the AU$700,000 claimed by web crime in the previous year, 2015.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) report "Targeting scams: Report of the ACCC on scams activity 2016" (.pdf link) says individuals lost a lot of money.  But businesses were the prime targets of the scammers, accounting for more than half of the reported losses - AU$1.7 Million.

"While the digital economy presents many opportunities and efficiencies for businesses, it also presents significant risks," writes ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard says in the report's foreword.  "Scams targeting businesses are becoming increasingly sophisticated using modern technology to make fake emails, invoices and websites appear legitimate to even the astute business person."

The ACCC's Scamwatch program determined many victims might not bother to report online crime.

"A lot of small businesses shrug their shoulders and wipe it off (when they have been scammed)," ACCC deputy chairman Michael Schaper tells the ABC.  "They think it's too much trouble to report, or it will get back their insurers who will hit them with higher premiums."