The estimated direct and indirect cost of identity crime in Australia in 2015–16 was $2.65b. This includes losses suffered by government agencies, Australian businesses and individuals as indicated in Figure 1. Each year attempts have been made to improve the methodology used to estimate the cost of identity crime by including the most current data, adding newly available sources of data, and increasing the range of data examined.

As such, the estimates in this report represent the best indication available of the national impact of identity crime in Australia. However, because of these changes to data sources and methodology, year-to-year comparisons cannot always be made.