Major new measure against 'cunning' scammers stealing $2.7 billion from Australians: 'vital weapon'

The federal government and Australian banks have announced a major expansion of information sharing in a bid to root out fraudsters. Australians lost $2.7 billion to scams in 2023, with more than 600,000 reports of scams.

This expansion will see the government's National Anti-Scam Center join the intelligence-sharing loop alongside banks, telecoms operators and digital platforms. This will allow them to quickly share “near real-time” data on the latest fraudsters’ tactics and tools.

This means that when someone reports a scam to their bank, telco or government Scamwatch, it will be subject to the shared loop. This means that phone numbers used by scammers for calls and texts can be blocked and fake websites shut down more easily, no matter who you talk to.

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Major banks including the Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Westpac, ANZ and NAB are part of the intelligence loop, alongside major telecommunications companies 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 fraudulent phone numbers and questionable URLs.

Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said this shared intelligence loop would “put forward a united and coordinated front so that fraudsters cannot reach their victims”.

“Scammers are not idiots, they are cunning criminals who adapt and change their tactics and we need to be able to do the same. Near real-time data sharing is vital [to] that,” Jones said.

Have you been the victim of a scam? Contact [email protected]

Anna Bligh, CEO of the Australian Banking Association, welcomed the expansion and said it would make it more difficult for fraudsters to operate in Australia.

“Better and faster intelligence sharing throughout the scam chain will be essential to stopping fraudsters in their tracks,” Bligh said.

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“This will be a vital weapon in the war against scams. Its expansion will make it easier to stop fraudsters and prevent them from harming more Australians.

The government said other tools such as the SMS Sender ID registry stopped fraudsters from spoofing brand names and led to 5,000 website takedowns and 100 million fraudulent text messages in the last quarter 2023.

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