By Ruairi O'Shea
Former Investigative Writer | Kaituhi Mātoro
The Australian government announced this week that it has made significant progress in the fight against scams. Key organisations have reported financial losses from scams falling from AUD2.7 billion in 2023 to AUD2.0 billion in 2024.
This represents a 26% decline in financial losses from scams. The number of scams has declined 17.8% in the same period.
Scam losses in New Zealand increase by 40% year on year
While consumers in Australia are enjoying greater scam protections, in New Zealand, the problem is bad and getting worse.
Scam losses in New Zealand at highest level ever recorded
Scam losses here have increased dramatically, from NZD18.3 million in 2023 to NZD25.7 million in 2024. This is both the highest level of scam losses and the biggest single year increase since New Zealand’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT NZ) started recording data in 2017.
Australia’s scam losses remain significantly higher than those reported in New Zealand, but:
Australia’s population, and economy, is significantly larger than New Zealand’s, so we’d expect total scam losses to be far higher there
Australia has higher reported scam losses because it is better at collecting data on scams. New Zealand’s losses seem small, but estimates of actual scam losses here range from NZD200 million to NZD2 billion.
What’s happening in New Zealand to prevent scams
Australia’s government has put our own government to shame when it comes to protecting consumers from scams.
In 2024, our then minister of commerce and consumer affairs and anti-scam minister Andew Bayly wrote a series of open letters to the banking, telecommunications and digital platforms industries urging them to tackle the scams crisis.
It is clear from these letters that the government understands what is required in a scams response. We need an “ecosystem approach”, which unites the banking, telecommunications and digital platforms industries.
But while the government has a solid understanding of what’s required to tackle the scams crisis, it has shown little appetite for leading the change.
In response to Bayly’s letter, the banks correctly pointed out that, as seen in Australia, the international practice is for governments to own a centralised anti-scam centre.
The ball is in the government’s court. Consumers face growing losses while we wait for the government to pick it up.
How has Australia driven down scam losses
Reduced scam losses in Australia are the direct result of the Australian government’s actions to protect consumers.
The National Anti-Scam Centre
In July 2023, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) allocated AUD58 million (NZD64 million) over two years to establish the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC).
The NASC was formed with an understanding that preventing scams required a cross-sectoral approach. The telecommunications, digital platforms and the financial industries all play a role in enabling and preventing scams.
The NASC advisory board reflects this approach. It comprises members from Australia’s banking, telecommunications and digital platforms sectors, in addition to consumer advocacy groups and the police.
Of the original AUD58 million budget, AUD44 million was spent on developing a technological solution that would allow the NASC to:
receive a report of a scam from any institution and centralise that intelligence
distribute the data to: banks (to freeze an account), telecommunication companies (to block a call) or digital platforms (to take down a website or account)
analyse and act on the trends highlighted in this data to disrupt scams and educate Australians.
Our scam data is sourced from CERT NZ. The NASC data is from a range of sources, including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange, IDCARE – an identity theft service – and two government-led scam reporting services.
Pooling this information and developing a better understanding of the scams landscape has been crucial to reducing losses, according to ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe.
“Combining and actioning the intelligence we and partners receive through reports is a key element of this effort,” Lowe said on the report’s release.
The scams prevention framework
In addition to the NASC, Australia has passed world-first scam prevention laws. These enhance protections across the economy by setting out consistent and enforceable obligations for businesses in key sectors where scammers operate.
The laws established the scams prevention framework. They also empowered the ACCC to closely monitor regulated entities compliance when it comes to preventing, detecting, disrupting, responding to and reporting scams.
The first industries required to comply with the regulation will be the banking and telecommunications industries. Some digital platforms, including social media, are also required to comply. Businesses that do not meet their obligations under the framework can face fines of up to AUD50 million (NZD55 million).
The framework means that, unlike in New Zealand, sectors can be held responsible for facilitating contact between scammers and their victims.
“Importantly, the framework enables consumers to seek redress from regulated businesses when those businesses have not met their obligations,” Lowe said.
Join our call to stamp out scams
In June 2024, Consumer NZ launched a campaign to stamp out scams. We called for:
banks to refund scam victims for authorised and unauthorised scam payments (unless the victim has been grossly negligent)
a national anti-scam framework requiring the bank, telecommunications companies and digital platforms to take action to address scams and outlining the industries’ liabilities if they fail to meet their obligations
a centralised anti-scam centre where relevant organisations work together to keep everyone safe.
So far, our call has fallen on deaf ears, and scam losses have grown drastically.
Join our call to stamp out scams by signing our petition.
Stamp out scams
Scams are on the rise, with over a million households in NZ targeted by scammers in the past year. Help us put pressure on the government to introduce a national scam framework that holds businesses to account.
