Victoria’s middle income earners targeted by white collar criminals, new data reveals

Victoria’s schemers and fraudsters have overwhelmingly targeted middle income earners, sparing Victoria’s richest LGAs. See if your area was targeted.

The latest crime data has revealed the worst regions for white collar crime in Victoria, with the state’s middle income earners targeted by the most fraudsters.

Victoria recorded 8642 obtain property by deception offences and 5192 forgery and counterfeit offences in the year to June 2024, according to data published by the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency on Thursday.

Greater Geelong overwhelmingly recorded the most deception offences with 440 recorded incidents.

Geelong racked up 100 more offences than the second most targeted area.

The LGA also took out gold for the most forgery and counterfeit offences, with an extra 86 offences on second place.

Other middle income earning LGAs — many in regional Victoria or on Melbourne’s outskirts — topped the obtain property by deception list, with the Yarra Ranges, Greater Bendigo, Ballarat and Brimbank rounding out the top five.

These areas all recorded more than 245 offences each.

The forgery and counterfeit numbers closely followed the same pattern.

Brimbank, Greater Bendigo and the Yarra Ranges all ranked in the top ten and recorded more than 170 offences each.

Victoria’s wealthiest LGAs mostly avoided the white collar crime scourge.

Stonnington and Bayside recorded less than 100 of both forgery and obtain property by deception offences.

The top five richest LGA’s, Stonnington, Bayside, Boroondara, Port Phillip and Yarra, all avoided the top 20 LGA’s targeted by schemers and fraudsters.

Specialist fraud barrister Andrew Tradgardh said there were two main types of white collar criminals.

“Traditionally these types of crimes were committed by someone close to you such as a business partner or an adviser,” he said.

“In modern times, people are increasingly being defrauded online through social media, in romance scams, or cryptocurrency schemes.

“They are people you think you know but they aren't real.”

Specialist fraud barrister Andrew Tradgardh has decades of experience investigating fraudsters. Picture: Duxton Hill

Mr Tradgardh, who founded the specialist fraud investigative firm Duxton Hill, said fraud cases were “notoriously difficult” to investigate because they were often only detected long after they began.

He advised victims not to let the fraudster know they suspected them and to immediately seek legal advice.

“If you believe you are a victim of fraud engage experts immediately to covertly investigate who is receiving the funds and where they are going,” he said.

“This is with the intention to commence legal action to be able to recover the funds.”