The ACCC has welcomed the Australian Government’s $58 million commitment to establish a new National Anti-Scam Centre, which will be launched on July 1.
“We’ll be using this funding to build the technology needed to support high frequency data sharing with a range of agencies, law enforcement and the private sector, with the mission to make Australia a harder target for scammers,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“The centre will bring together the expertise and resources to disrupt scammers making contact with Australians, raise consumer awareness about how to avoid scams, and link scam victims to services where they have lost money or had their identity compromised.
“Through increased sharing of scam reports and other initiatives, the centre will help inform finance, telecommunications and digital platforms sectors to take more timely and effective steps to stop scammers.”
The National Anti-Scam Centre will be delivered over the next three years, with the first step to coordinate efforts across government and the private sector to combat specific scam activity more effectively.
“This additional level of coordination and focus will help target anti-scam activities and help prevent losses to scams,” Lowe explained.
“In 2022, text messages surpassed phone calls as the most reported contact method by scammers with almost 80,000 reports about SMS scams.
“We welcome the Federal Government’s commitment to introduce an SMS Sender ID register, similar to that implemented in Singapore, which will assist in disrupting impersonation scams and help consumers determine whether a text message using a sender ID is from a trusted source.
“While these are all positive steps in the fight against scams, we also believe the work of the NASC would be greatly assisted by the establishment of effective cross-industry standards with coverage and teeth to ensure scammers can’t exploit weak links.”
