Australians lost nearly half a billion dollars to scammers in 2018, but that figure is just "the tip of the iceberg", the consumer watchdog has warned.

Key points: Number of ATO impersonator scams surged 900pc last year

Number of ATO impersonator scams surged 900pc last year Investment scams resulted in $86m worth of losses to consumers

Investment scams resulted in $86m worth of losses to consumers Fraudsters earned at least $60.5m from dating and romance scams

Consumers were cheated out of (at least) $489 million last year — a 44 per cent jump on the $340 million reported in 2017 — according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) latest 'Targeting Scams' report.

But the ACCC's deputy chair Delia Rickard said the total was likely to be higher.

"We know that not everyone who suffers a loss to a scammer reports it to a government agency," she said.

Aside from the ACCC, these agencies include the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN), Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the United States Federal Trade Commission (the US-equivalent of the ACCC), among others.

The regulator noted, in particular, a 900 per cent surge in the number of reported "ATO scams".

One version of the scam involves people receiving phone calls from a robotic voice, demanding to be called back, along with a threat:

"If we don't hear from you we have to issue an arrest warrant under your name and get you arrested."

Another variation involves callers pretending to be from the ATO, telling the victim that they owe enormous tax debts.

The caller tells the victim that a warrant has been issued for their arrest — unless they purchase thousands of dollars in Apple iTunes vouchers, and then relay the cards' redemption codes to the fraudsters.

These calls show a fake local phone number to give the impression it is legitimate, when in fact it is from an overseas call centre.

"In 2018, the ATO received 114,625 reports of the ATO impersonation scam with over $2.8 million in reported losses," the ACCC said in its report.

But the ATO scam evolved last year, with fraudsters increasingly demanding payment from victims through Google Play cards and the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

The tax office noted, last year, that victims paid ATO impersonators $732,917 via Bitcoin, $647,817 via Google Play cards and $496,701 via iTunes cards.

Surge in romance and investment scams

One of the fastest-growing (and second-most financially harmful) scams was the "dating and romance" category.

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It soared from $42 million (in 2017) to $60.5 million (in 2018) — a 44 per cent increase.

Scammers usually search for victims on dating websites (including Tinder), or through social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram.

"They play on emotional triggers to get their victims to provide money, gifts or personal details," the ACCC wrote, explaining how typical romance scams work.

Earlier this year, the ABC's Four Corners program revealed that international scamming syndicates made billions of dollars preying on people looking to make relationships online.

Investment scams, however, were the most lucrative schemes for fraudsters.

The ACCC noted that victims lost $86 million last year to investment scams — a 34 per cent increase compared to the $64 million earned in 2017.

"Phone-based cold calling is the most common and most financially devastating approach used by investment scammers to find victims but others report falling for investment schemes mentioned on internet trading forums or advertised in pop-up ads," the regulator said in its report.

In relation to cryptocurrency scams, victims typically reported being deceived into purchasing Bitcoin and other digital currencies through the scammer's "foolproof trading platform" software.

However, when the victims try to cash out, the scammers either "made excuses" or were "no longer contactable".

Foreign exchange scams also experienced a boom — jumping from $2.8 million (based on 191 complaints) to $4.4 million worth of victim's losses (from 250 reports), according to the ACCC's Scamwatch division.

These schemes typically offer "get-rich-quick" opportunities with "expert advisers" and "simple-to-use-platforms".

One victim reported explained to the ACCC how they were conned as part of a foreign exchange scam:

"When I wanted to withdraw my money I was told I would need to pay taxes on my profits before I could access it. "I was never warned about this but they insisted I needed to pay taxes before I could get my money back. "After I asked for my money, my trades started to fail and my accumulated profits were starting to decrease. "They pressured me to invest more so that I could reverse the situation by increasing my 'trades volume'. "They said I would lose everything unless I invested more as an emergency."

The ACCC deputy chair's advice to consumers for dealing with scams is, "If something doesn't feel right, hang up the phone or hit delete."

"If the person said they were, for example, from Telstra or the ATO, find the phone number for that organisation online or in the phone book, call them and let them know about the call you received.

"They'll let you know if it's genuine or a scam."