Speaking at the inaugural identity management summit in Sydney on fraud trends in Australia, Mills said the A$50 million (US$37.2 million) worth of fraud saved every year could be up around A$500 million with increased awareness and police cooperation.

"Companies need to put security in place so they're not assisting offenders and there needs to be more information sharing between law enforcement agencies and the public and private sector," Mills said, adding identity-related crime is now the fastest growing crime in the world. "ID crime is made up of a number of areas and we are trying to get consistency across financial institutions."

A fraud strategy project team member for the major fraud investigation division, Mills referred to last year's agreement with the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (AEEMA) on quashing Internet and card scams as an example of what's needed.

"We share information with AEEMA, and within the fraud strategy there is a reference group including the department of justice and banks on how we can share information in the future," he said. "The cost of fraud in Australia is about A$5 billion per year, which is about one-third of the cost of crime in Australia, which is about A$19 billion."

Mills said the rate of identity fraud here is catching up quickly with world trends because it is difficult to detect, easy to do, and since the crime does not involve violence against a person the courts are lenient in sentencing offenders.