In 2020, businesses were tricked out of a total of $18 million by scammers, up from just $6.9 million lost in 2019.

Small and micro businesses accounted for over $7 million of the losses, and farmers lost $1.1 million to a new online shopping scam.

An ACCC spokesperson explained criminals deliberately played on COVID-19 restrictions to trick farmers out of funds.

"These scams arose during the COVID-19 pandemic and involved fake online listings for farm equipment... at prices well below market rate," they said. "Scammers used COVID-19 as an excuse to not allow buyers to view goods in person prior to making payment."

"Once payment was made, sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars, the goods never arrived."

Alan Brown of the NSW Farmers Association said news of the agriculture losses, which totaled more than $340,000 in NSW, on top of a tough year for farmers was troubling and urged farmers to be vigilant.

"It's an absolute necessity that people are aware of how these scammers work and are able to protect themselves," he said.

"People get tempted when they see a good deal, but it's the oldest story in the book: If it looks too good to be true it almost invariably is."

Wagga-based cybersecurity expert Dr Arif Khan said vulnerable groups like farmers and small regional businesses are very attractive to scammers.

"These scammers target vulnerable people because they know they're not very aware of the cybersecurity issues," he said.

He said scams are likely to continue to increase, as the more money is made each year, the more attractive the Australian market is to criminals operating overseas.

"I think scammers see Australia as a profitable market for their efforts and activities and that's why they are increasing their attacks," he said. "When you look at the losses, they are obviously getting the benefit out of the scams, and these are just the losses that were reported."

He said the prevalence of small businesses in Wagga means they are more at risk and called on the government to provide free programs to educate people, potentially saving them thousands.

"In the Riverina and Wagga local government the state government should run free programs for these small and medium businesses," he said, adding education is the best way to combat the problem.

"Of course we should use cybersecurity measures but scams are like mushrooms, you stop them in one place and they pop up somewhere else."

Scamwatch provides free online resources to help businesses avoid and identify potential scams.

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