AFCA scam complaints ‘off the charts’ while banks fail to reimburse customers
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) received a record number of complaints in 2023-24 after disputes to the ombudsman service increased 9 per cent to more than 105,000 for the year. Complaints about scams, online and personal transaction accounts, credit cards, and personal loans all saw significant increases.
Consumer Action Law Centre CEO Stephanie Tonkin said she was not surprised a key driver of the increase was a huge jump in complaints about scam-related issues with almost double the number from last year to 10,951.
” The 81 per cent rise in scam complaints is off the charts and underscores the serious nature of the scams we hear about every day on our frontlines, and that customers aren’t satisfied with their banks’ response when they need help,” Ms Tonkin said.
“Australia’s banks are failing, first for allowing scams to take place, and then failing their customers who seek financial redress causing them to turn to AFCA for help.
“We need the Albanese Government to urgently commit to tough mandatory codes that address scams and provide AFCA with clear obligations and sanctions for banks and digital platforms when consumers complain,” Ms Tonkin said.
Scam losses have devastating impacts upon victims and their family, and bank responses are well below community expectations. Australia’s major banks only reimburse between 2-5% of their customers’ scam losses.
Worryingly, at a time of higher interest rates and increased costs of living, complaints involving financial difficulty rose 14 per cent to 5,525 in 2023-24. Home loan complaints accounted for one in three of those complaints (1,828).
Quote attributable to Alex Soderland, Senior Campaigns and Policy Adviser, CHOICE:
“When businesses fail to protect consumers from scams, it’s important that they offer consumers clear pathways of support and redress. Looking at the increase in scam-related complaints to AFCA, there’s a long way to go. That’s why it’s so important that businesses are subject to mandatory and enforceable obligations that provide consumers with a minimum standard of protection and support. Scam victims shouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail for a resolution.”
ENDS
Media contact: Mark Pearce, Media and Communications Adviser, 0413 299 567, media@consumeraction.org.au
