Yahoo Finance Major new move against 'cunning' scammers fleecing Aussies $2.7 billion: 'Vital weapon'
The government is now able to share scam information with big banks like CBA, Westpac, ANZ and NAB, along with telcos like Optus and Telstra in real time.
The federal government and Aussie banks have announced a major expansion in intelligence sharing in a bid to stamp out scammers. Aussies lost $2.7 billion to scams in 2023, with more than 600,000 scam reports made.
The expansion will see the government’s National Anti-Scam Centre join the intelligence sharing loop alongside banks, telcos and digital platforms. This will allow them to quickly share “near real-time” data on the latest tactics and tools of scammers.
That means when someone reports a scam to their bank, telco or the government's Scamwatch, it will be submitted into the shared loop. That means phone numbers used by scammers for calls and SMSs will be able to be blocked and fake websites shut down more easily no matter who you report to.
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Major banks including Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Westpac, ANZ and NAB are signed up for the intelligence loop, along with major telcos like Optus, Telstra and TPG. Meta and Australia Post are also participants.
Since joining the system, CBA said it has submitted more than 1,200 entries into the loop containing scam phone numbers and dodgy URLs.
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said this shared intelligence loop would “put forward a united, coordinated front so scammers can’t reach their victims”.
“Scammers aren’t mugs, they’re cunning criminals who adapt and change their tactics and we need to be able to do the same. Having near real time data sharing is vital [to] that,” Jones said.
Have you fallen victim to a scam? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com
Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh has welcomed the expansion and said it will make it harder for scammers to operate in Australia.
“Better and faster intelligence sharing across the entire scams chain will be critical to stopping scammers in their tracks,” Bligh said.
“This will be a vital weapon in the war against scams. Its expansion will make it easier to shutdown scammers and stop them from harming more Australians.”
The government said other tools like the SMS Sender ID register have stopped scammers from spoofing brand names and led to 5,000 website takedowns and 100 million scam text messages being in the last quarter of 2023.
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