Australians reported 481,523 scams in 2025 , with 274,577 reports involving financial losses totalling $2.18 billion . Behind those numbers are scams that are becoming increasingly difficult to spot. For organisations, one of the most convincing can begin with something as routine as an invoice. Invoice fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated. The email may come from a supplier you know. The invoice may look exactly like previous ones. The amount is correct, the project is familiar, and the message may even sit inside a genuine email thread. The only thing that's changed is the bank account. That one change can redirect thousands of dollars into a cyber criminal's hands. How it happens Invoice fraud, also known as payment redirection fraud, is a common form of Business Email Compromise (BEC). Criminals gain access to a real email account - through phishing, stolen credentials, malware or a data breach - then quietly monitor it. They learn who approves payments, how invoicing cycles work, and wait for the right moment to intercept a genuine transaction and simply change the bank details. Because nothing else changes, it's very hard to spot. Example of What a Scam Looks Like

In 1956, a priest with a vision and a community with faith came together to solve a problem. Catholic schools across Melbourne were overflowing. Families were growing. Government funding for Catholic education was simply unavailable. And so Fr James Wall, later honoured with the title 'Father of the Funds', established what he called the Schools Provident Fund (SPF): a new way for the Catholic community to pool its resources, invest in its future, and care for one another. The very first school funded through that vision was Sacred Heart Parish Primary School in Preston, Victoria, which opened in 1957 and became an instant success, laying the framework for what would follow. The movement spread across Australia and New Zealand, growing from a solution for Catholic schools into a broader vehicle for funding parishes, hospitals, aged care and social services. Seventy years later, that vision is very much alive.