Tasmanians lost $3.6 million to scammers in the past four months alone, but that total is likely just the "tip of the iceberg" of the real loss, according to Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones.
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Visiting Tasmania on Tuesday to attend a forum on the issue, Mr Jones said the volume of money lost nationwide in scams had increased nearly five-fold since 2020, to more $3 billion last year.
He said online criminals are targeting all age groups, but older Australians were particularly vulnerable because they typically had the most money to lose.
"Romance scams, investment scams, invoice interception scams, impersonations - all of them are people being ripped off by criminals and we're going to treat it seriously," he said.
"It should be treated at the same level of seriousness that we would treat somebody who held up a petrol station or a bank because the effect is the same."
At the forum in Hobart, Mr Jones and Tasmanian senator Carol Brown said a key initiative promised in the May federal budget - the $86.5 million National Anti-Scams Centre - would launch on July 1.
The new centre will seek to disrupt online fraud in real time by using cutting-edge technology and sharing intelligence across governments and financial institutions.
"For the first time, when a scam is reported in real time, we'll be able to send information to the banks, the telecoms companies and the social media platforms to put a flag on accounts and shut the communication channels down," Mr Jones said.
He said the government would also set up "hit squads" - experts tasked with targeting particular types of scams.
"Our community and local businesses will be more protected from scammers than ever before with the establishment of the National Anti-Scams Centre," Senator Brown said.
University of Tasmania academic Kathryn Barnsley attended the scam forum in Hobart along with Mr Jones.
She said while she was impressed by the government's planned actions against scammers, she took aim at the banks, claiming they had abrogated their responsibility to keep their customers' savings secure.
"The banks have shifted all the responsibility from themselves and secure buildings to the individual," Dr Barnsley said.
"They've closed down branches all over Australia, they've made billions of dollars and sacked all the staff.
"We used to have bank books, we used to have cheques, our money was kept in a bank vault.
"No longer is that the case - banks have shifted all the risk from secure buildings to the individual.
"I think it is un-Australian to shift all the responsibility from corporations to individuals."
She said a friend of hers had lost $100,000 to a scam and her bank MyState had refused to compensate her for the loss.
The bank was "unsympathetic, rude, unhelpful", she said.
She wasn't the only one.
The Tenants' Union of Tasmania last week posted a warning about a rental scammer attempting to take advantage of the housing crisis by offering cheap rental accommodation.
"Yesterday, we were shown screenshots of chats with a scammer offering a home in Sorell," the post read.
"The prospective tenant played along, aware they were being scammed, and received bank details to deposit a large sum of money without ever seeing the property in person or meeting anyone.
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