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Banks victim-shaming approach ‘immoral’- Tonkin

New polling by Essential Media is unequivocal: the vast majority (75%) of Australians expect banks to keep their money safe from criminal scammers, and if they fail, to return it to their accounts.

Australians lost a massive $2.74 billion to scammers in 2023, that’s hundreds of dollars for every household in our country already under pressure from cost-of-living woes.

Today, new national polling from Essential Research* reveals that nine out of ten Australians believe that scams are becoming more sophisticated and that anyone and everyone can become a victim, however careful they try to be.

Consumer Action Law Centre CEO Stephanie Tonkin said she is not surprised that according to the poll, a big majority of Australians (75%) believe Government should introduce laws to force banks to refund customers who have been robbed, if their bank hasn’t kept their money safe.

“Instead of accepting responsibility, our banks pile on the injustice, and blame their customers who pay them to keep their money safe from increasingly sophisticated crimes and deception.

“88% of people polled, and 91% of over 55’s believe the sophistication of these crimes means anyone can become a victim. Almost every Australian is now fearful their money is going to be stolen because their banks are not doing enough.

“The onus continues to be on the customer to avoid being scammed against malignant forces over which they have no control, and its exasperating banks offer little to reduce scams to keep people’s money safe and secure.”

The polls also show that just over half of the population (54%) know that the banks only reimburse a paltry 2 to 5 % of money that is stolen because of scams.  We may assume from this that the general population expects reimbursement levels to be much greater than this, given the astronomical profits recorded by banks year in year out.

“The stance of our banks to this crisis is simply immoral, and I am calling it out,” Tonkin said.

According to the poll results, 76% of people agree that if the law forced banks to reimburse scam victims, this would act as a good incentive for them to invest in technology to prevent scams.

The Albanese Government is soon planning to introduce scam legislation into Parliament which it claims will ‘set a very high bar’ for banks and companies to prevent scams. According to the polling results, less than one in three (32%) people believe the country is on track to have ‘the best anti-scam legislation in the world’.

Essential Research Polling Results

A big majority of Australians (76%) believe if the law forced banks to reimburse, it would be a good incentive for banks to improve their technology to prevent scams.
A big majority of Australians (75%) believe the law should require banks to refund scam victims if the bank hasn’t kept their money safe.
A majority of Australians (64%) believe it’s the banks job to keep customers money safe, even if it is stolen as a result of customer being tricked by an online scam.
A majority of Australians (60%) believe Australian law should require banks to refund all scam victims who have been manipulated into transferring their money online to a scammer.
A huge majority of Australians (88%) believe online scams are getting more sophisticated and that anyone can be a victim, even if they are careful (over 55’s 91%)
A huge majority of Australians (87%) believe there is an increasing number of people in Australia falling victim to successful scams (over 55’s 92%)
Less than a third (32%) of Australians believe Australia is ‘on track to have the best anti-scam regulations in the world’
A majority of Australians (54%) think it is true that Australian banks reimburse only 2-5% of lost scam money.

ENDS