NEW laws to protect people from scammers have been introduced by the Albanese Government that will impose tough fines on banks, telcos and social media platforms if they fail to prevent, disrupt or detect scams.
Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, says participants at last month’s seniors’ forum held at Leonay with Assistant Minister for Social Services, Ageing and Women, Kate Thwaites, identified scams as something they feared.
“People at the seniors’ forum told us they felt embarrassed and foolish at being conned by scammers,” Ms Templeman said. “We need to remove the stigma from it because these are clever international criminals who are deliberately setting out to use social media platforms and other ways of communicating to rip people off.
“They are sophisticated, international scams, which can involve human trafficking and forced labour from all over the world,” she said.
“The new laws provide beefed-up consumer and small business protection against the most common methods of scam activity by covering telecommunication providers, banks and digital platform services relating to social media, paid search engine advertising and direct messaging.
“If those big providers do not meet their new obligations to prevent, disrupt and detect scams and providing redress for customers who lose money, they face tough fines and penalties of up to $50 million per incident.
“It builds on the other initiatives we’ve brought in including the National Anti-Scam Centre, the Sender ID registry, and the powers of the ACCC to take down dodgy websites.
“Everyone should be on their guard for scammers. Victims are not confined to older people: ticket scams target concert goers, investment scams target retirees, business scams target small business.
“And two out of three scams originate on social media, yet Meta and other giants make money from running scammers’ ads.”
If people would like to be better equipped to spot scams, grab a copy of the ACCC’s Little Book of Scams, which you can download at www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/the-little-book-of-scams or contact Susan Templeman’s office on susan.templeman.mp@aph.gov.au
