A taskforce run by the National Anti-Scam Centre Australia targeted job scams and fake ads
More than 29,000 social media accounts have been taken down and 1850 fake job ads referred for removal following a major crackdown on employment scams by the National Anti-Scam Centre.
Catriona Lowe, deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which runs the centre, said job scams were one of the fastest-growing scam types.
"These scams disproportionately impact people on low incomes, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, international students, non-resident visa holders, people with caring responsibilities, and others with limited employment options," Lowe said in a statement.
"Job scams result in significant financial losses and put people at risk of identity theft through loss of personal information."
As part of the crackdown, the taskforce (called a fusion cell) worked with tech giants to successfully remove accounts in Australian Facebook groups.
"Through our intelligence-sharing efforts, we have successfully removed approximately 29,000 accounts engaged in job scams in Australian Facebook groups," the fusion cell report said.
Enforcement on accounts targeting Australian users originating from scam centres has also been increased.
"This includes approximately 77,000 users and 17,000 ads. Disabled scam accounts made a total of 840,000 posts in Australian Facebook Groups during this time, demonstrating the importance of this work."
The taskforce, which ran from September 2024 to March 2025, also refered 1,850 fake job advertisements across numerous platforms for removal, with a success rate of 45%.
"Confirmed rates of removal are low for most types of platforms, although actual rates of removal are much higher," the report read.
"While scam job advertisements on legitimate online jobs boards were relatively few in number, National Anti-Scam Centre engagement with these businesses and accessible reporting processes saw scam advertisements removed effectively."
Other initiatives of the taskforce include:
The massive crackdown comes amid the recent surge in job scams, leading to millions of dollars in losses among Australians.
Scamwatch, which is also under the ACCC, said it received more than 3,000 reports of job scams, with reported losses hitting $13.7 million.
To prevent cases of job scams in the future, the National Anti-Scam Centre said it engaged with industry sectors often impersonated by job scammers to raise awareness and implement preventative measures.
"For example, best practice awareness messaging and prevention advice was provided to overseas-based staff of the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, among others, to limit the ability of scammers to impersonate these senior departmental figures in job scams," the report read.
It also engaged with more than 40 organisations in the healthcare sector to provide advice on job scam trends, with some receiving advice on how to minimise the risk of impersonation of their organisation and how to protect potential job applicants.
"These interventions appear to have had a substantial impact on scammers' attempts to target consumers seeking jobs in the Australian healthcare sector," the report read.
"As of late March 2025, there had been a near elimination of Scamwatch reports referencing job scams impersonating organisations in the sector."
