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Scam calls will FINALLY be traced and blocked after plaguing Australians’ lives and draining bank accounts – with $250,000 fines for telcos that don’t comply
- Telecommunications companies are now required to find and block scammers
- ACMA announced the new rules, which have been trialled, on Wednesday
- Australians lost more than $634million to scams in 2019, Scamwatch revealed
Phone and internet companies will be required to find and block scammers from their service under new laws.
Australians lost more than $634million to various scams in 2019, Scamwatch revealed, and now the Australian Communications and Media Authority has introduced regulations to stamp out the fraud.
The rules were worked out with telcos and Communications Alliance and announced on Wednesday.
Australians lost more than $634million to various scams in 2019, Scamwatch revealed, and now the Australian Communications and Media Authority intends to help put up stop to it (stock)
Those that refuse to take part face penalties of up to $250,000 for breaching the directions to comply with the code.
Major telecommunications companies reported blocking 30 million scam calls during a trial period in the past 12 months.
Fiona Cameron, chair of the ACMA’s scam telecommunications action taskforce, said this was a significant step in targeting scammers.
‘There is no silver bullet to reduce scams, but these new rules place clear obligations on industry to do more to protect their customers and build confidence that it’s safe to answer a ringing phone,’ she said.
‘Scams have a devastating impact on their victims and scammers are unscrupulous in taking advantage of people.
‘They quickly adapt to changing circumstances, as we have seen, for example, in scam activity targeting Australians during the Covid-19 pandemic.’
Major telecommunications companies have reported blocking 30 million scam calls during a trial period in the last 12 months (stock)
She said the end game was to stop scammers in their tracks when possible.
Ms Camera also said that ACMA would enforce this code.
The new rules also mean telecommunications companies must publish information that helps customers manage and report scams.
These tools would also help share information about scam calls with other telecommunications companies and report scams to the authorities.
‘Reports of mobile porting fraud have markedly decreased since new rules were introduced in April this year, however we are still closely monitoring industry compliance with the new obligations,’ Ms Cameron said.
