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The Albanese government furthers its anti-scam movement with the introduction of the Scams Prevention Framework to Parliament.
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Scam defences to be strengthened by landmark legislation
11 November 2024
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The landmark Scams Prevention Framework was introduced to Parliament last Thursday in an attempt to provide stronger defences against scammers around the world.
Under the landmark legislation, banks, social media platforms, and telecommunications companies would face “hefty” fines if they failed to prevent, detect, disrupt, respond, and report scams and attempted scams within the business.
The government said victims would have clear pathways to compensation if the business failed to meet the new standards.
Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, said the bill was crucial for the cyber safety of Australian businesses.
“Over the last year I’ve spoken to thousands of Australians in cities and towns around the country. They want tough action to protect their money and their information, and these laws deliver,” he said.
“We urge the Parliament to support this bill to ensure consumers get the protection they need as soon as possible.”
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The new legislation would also provide power to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to direct businesses to take certain steps to protect their customers from scammers.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority would also be given the power to resolve consumer claims over scams in these sectors.
Jones said businesses should be aware that the Scams Prevention Framework would include fines of up to $50 million for non-compliance.
If passed by Parliament, the Scams Prevention Framework would:
- Enable the minister to establish sector-specific codes that would impose mandatory obligations on banks, telecommunication service providers, and social media platforms.
- Mandate the designated sectors to have clear, accessible, and transparent internal dispute resolution mechanisms for consumers.
- Allow the minister to make SPF rules that set out guidance on how to apportion liability at IDR between one or multiple businesses that are at fault to assist victims in seeking redress.
- Enable a single external dispute resolution scheme for scam complaints made under the framework where a dispute cannot be resolved at IDR.
- Build a mandatory coordinated intelligence sharing ecosystem that requires timely reporting and information sharing across industry and government.
Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, said the government was already taking action for mobile scams by legislating an SMS Sender ID register, which would improve the security of SMS from reputable brands.
“While the telecommunications industry has done some good work in blocking scam calls and scam SMS, there are still too many getting through and leading to consumer losses,” she said.
“The Scams Prevention Framework will help to further strengthen scam defences, and I encourage the telecommunications sector to continue to work closely with the regulator, ACMA, to develop the industry codes that will provide Australian consumers the best protection from the scrouge of scams.”
Scam losses were measured to be the lowest they have been since 2016 due to the government investment of $180 million in scam activity across the economy, according to Jones.
“The choice facing the opposition and crossbench is simple. Be on the side of Australians and support this bill or enable scammers to continue their scrouge,” he said.
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