The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today welcomed the passage of the Scams Prevention Framework Bill in Parliament.

This legislation enhances protections across the economy by setting out consistent and enforceable obligations for businesses in key sectors where scammers operate.

Under the new legislation, the ACCC will closely monitor regulated entities’ compliance with principles to prevent, detect, disrupt, respond to and report scams.

The Scams Prevention Framework empowers the ACCC to investigate potential breaches and take enforcement action where entities do not take reasonable steps to fulfill their obligations under these principles.

Businesses that do not meet their obligations under the Framework can face fines up to $50 million.

Banks, certain digital platforms, including social media, and telecommunications providers will be the first sectors required to comply with the legislation.

The ACCC runs the National Anti-Scam Centre, which commenced on 1 July 2023, and Scamwatch service. The National Anti-Scam Centre is a virtual centre that sits within the ACCC and brings together experts from government, law enforcement and the private sector, to disrupt scams before they reach consumers.

The National Anti-Scam Centre analyses and acts on trends from shared data and raises consumer awareness about how to spot and avoid scams.

The ACCC, through the National Anti-Scam Centre, has already been partnering with stakeholders across the scams ecosystem to share intelligence and information to detect and disrupt scams on a voluntary basis. The Framework will significantly boost the contributions from industry and require designated businesses to share scam intelligence with the ACCC.

The new Scams Prevention Framework will be critical to cutting off scammers before they can reach Australians.

Under the Framework, the ACCC will also enforce the digital platforms sector scams code and will take enforcement action where digital platforms breach their obligations under this code.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will be the regulator for the banking sector code and the Australian Communications and Media Authority will be the regulator for the telecommunications sector code. Regulators have in place processes to work together to help ensure the right action by the right regulator at the right time.

The ACCC supports the establishment of a single external dispute resolution body under the new Framework and looks forward to working with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).