Report underscores joint initiatives to combat rising scam activities
Australian banks are intensifying their efforts to combat scams, with a new report indicating a 13% reduction in scam-related financial losses last year, despite an 18.5% rise in reported incidents.
The 2023 Targeting Scams Report, released by the National Anti-Scam Centre, shows that financial losses from scams decreased to $2.7 billion, down approximately $400 million from the previous year.
The report revealed that Australians lodged over 601,000 complaints last year, with investment scams inflicting the most financial damage, costing victims approximately $1.3 billion. These were followed by remote access scams, which led to losses of $256 million, and romance scams, which resulted in $201.1 million in financial harm.
Aside from the figures, the report emphasised the positive impact of targeted and coordinated disruption efforts involving government, industry, law enforcement, and community organisations in response to the global rise in scam activities.
“It is encouraging to see signs that our coordinated scam prevention, detection and disruption initiatives can stem the flow of funds to criminals and protect consumers,” said Catriona Lowe (pictured left), deputy chair of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.
Anna Bligh (pictured right), chief executive of the Australian Banking Association (ABA), regarded the decline in losses as a positive development in the ongoing battle against scammers.
“It’s absolutely devastating when we see Australians lose money to the criminal gangs operating these sophisticated scams,” Bligh said. “While scam reports increased, financial losses are down, which shows Australians are alert to the risks and collective efforts from government, banks, telcos and other industries are making a difference.
“The banking industry’s Scam-Safe Accord is a major step-up in protections from banks to shield consumers from scammers. It’s a set of world-leading safeguards by banks to help keep the money of Australians safe.”
The Scam-Safe Accord involves a $100 million investment in a new confirmation of payee system to ensure correct fund transfers, additional warnings, and payment delays to protect customers. It also includes the introduction of biometric checks for new account openings, an expansion of intelligence sharing across the sector, and mandatory implementation of anti-scam strategies by all banks.
“We are optimistic that our combined efforts will continue to reduce scam losses,” Lowe said. We will continue this important work because losses remain too high and behind the numbers are real people who have lost money, often every last cent, to scams.”
Bligh echoed Lowe’s statement, saying that scam-proofing Australia will require a collective effort.
“Better protecting Australians from scams can only be achieved if every part of the chain leans in as hard as they can,” she said. “We need to be hitting scammers from all angles. Banks and the telcos have said they will back the government’s mandatory scams code, and I strongly encourage the social media platforms to do the same.”
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