ACCC Given Extra Powers To Prosecute Scammers – channelnews

Among the extra powers and responsibilities handed to the ACCC in last night’s budget was the ability to go after dodgy operators via the establishment of a national anti-scams centre.

The ACCC will use seed funding from the budget to collaborate with other agencies to form the centre.

“This funding allows for a range of agencies to work together to plan the best way of supporting the community in the fight against scammers,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“The anti-scams-centre is designed to give consumers one contact point for advice on how to prevent scams and what to do when they have been hit.”

“We look forward to contributing to the blueprint for this important work to better guard the community against and respond to the dangers of scams.”

Last year, close to $1.8 billion in losses were reported to Scamwatch, ReportCyber, and other financial and governmental agencies.

Scamwatch predicts that a third of victims never report their losses, making this figure well over $2 billion.

The ACCC has been very active in this arena of late.

In February it launched an investigation against Meta for allowing crypto-related scam advertising onto its platform.

In July, Cass-Gottlieb outlined a three-pronged approach that she hoped would “make Australia the world’s hardest scam target”.

“First, we need to stop scammers reaching consumers by disrupting the means by which they contact would-be victims – whether through phone calls, SMS, email, social media,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

“Second, we need to better educate consumers so that if a scam contact makes it through to them, they are able to recognise it as a scam. Scammers are increasingly sophisticated and cunning in the ways they trick consumers and businesses, so this is a key challenge to address.”

“Finally, we need measures in place so that if a consumer is convinced to attempt to transfer funds to a scammer there is a safety net there to prevent this from happening.”

Given the Budget was announced last night, no timeline for the anti-scams centre has been revealed as yet.