OPINION: Slam the legal door on scams
By Stephanie Tonkin, CEO Consumer Action Law Centre (published in the Herald Sun, 18 March 2024) Last week, Scamwatch, our national body fighting scams and part of the Australian Competition and Co...
‘Honeypot’ Australia lagging far behind as nations take action on scams
Inaction on scams is creating a ‘perfect storm’ for people living in Australia already under siege in a cost-of-living crisis, exposing the country’s vulnerable banking and communications infrastructu...
Scam victims head to Canberra to tell politicians why banks should be incentivised to stop scams
Tim Watkins, Sarah Gerendasi, James Green, and Nina Merrilees were robbed of thousands of dollars by scammers. They are travelling to Canberra today to share their stories at the launch of the new Par...
Advocates set out crystal-clear path to reimbursement to prevent the billions being lost by Australians to scams
A coalition of advocacy groups, including Consumer Action Law Centre, CHOICE and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, have come out forcefully stating that customer reimbursement, pa...
Scams – Mandatory Industry Codes Consultation Paper
Consumer Action Law Centre, CHOICE and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network have been conducting regular roundtables with scams victims and consumer organisations, to develop our resp...
Scams: Mandatory regulation outline promising but more clarity needed on standards and consumers’ rights to reimbursement
The mandatory Code for Scams consultation paper announced by the Federal Treasury today sets out some proposals to tackle the scams crisis, however the final regulation must land on clearer stipulated...
Banking industry announcement a big first step in addressing scams
Consumer Action Law Centre has welcomed the scams safe accord announced by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) and Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) which has involved, for the first time...
Australian scam victims left behind as UK puts responsibility on banks to reimburse customers
In a world first, the UK Parliament this week passed legislation that will protect banking customers from the losses they experience as a direct result of being tricked by scammers. British banks a...
New Anti-Scam centre funding welcomed but will it help Bill who lost $20,000?
Consumer Action CEO Stephanie Tonkin has welcomed the extra funding announced in the Federal Budget for the Anti-Scam Centre, saying it’s a first step in the right direction, but deep concerns remain...
Australia’s banks failing customers by placing all the burden of the scams crisis on them says damning ASIC report
Australia’s four major banks are failing their customers by taking a ‘variable and…less mature’ approach to scams than expected, with ‘inconsistent and narrow approaches to determining liability’ as w...
Scams must be stopped: Westpac alerts for mis-matched payments and money transfer measures welcomed
Consumer Action CEO Stephanie Tonkin says Westpac’s announcement of a new verification system for payments and money transfer measures to new accounts are “…steps in the right direction to help stop t...
OPINION: Banks, get tougher on scams
An edited version of this opinion piece appeared in the Herald Sun 18 February, 2023 You’d be hard-pressed these days to find someone who hasn’t been the target of a scam. Whether it’s a fraudulent...
Consumer Action calling on banks to block payments to scammers and reimburse victims
Australia’s banks should quickly introduce measures to stop scams, make their systems safer and reimburse victims or be made by Government to do so, says Consumer Action CEO Stephanie Tonkin. Ms Tonk...
A Strategic Plan for the Payments System
We consider the safety and resilience of the payments system to require urgent attention and intervention and outline the reasons for this in our joint submission with Financial Rights Legal Centre....
OPINION: Optus data breach underscores urgent need for reforms to protect Australians from scams
Opinion piece by Gerard Brody, CEO Consumer Action The massive data breach affecting up to 9.8 million Optus customers has shone a spotlight on what can be done to protect Australians from harm and...
With scams at crisis levels, banks and payment system providers must do more
Online and telephone scams targeting Australians are now at crisis levels and victims will continue to bear the burden of financial losses, which will only get worse without urgent action from governm...