McCORMACK WELCOMES NEW ACTION ON SCAMMERS
Deputy Prime Minister and Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has welcomed the Federal Government’s new code aimed at protecting people from scam calls.
“Scam calls are among the things Riverina and Central West residents hate the most,” Mr McCormack said.
“People approach me all the time to voice their concerns about scam callers and so I’m delighted the Government is taking yet another step to block this insidious practice.
“It breaks my heart to hear constituents, many of them elderly or vulnerable in other ways, telling their stories of being targeted by cold-hearted and ruthless thieves – and that is all they are, thieves – trying to rob them of their hard-earned money.
“They are the lowest of the low.
“Frustratingly, many scammers had ramped up their nefarious activities to take advantage of people during COVID-19.”
Mr McCormack said the Government had unveiled a new industry code which would help stamp out scam calls.
The Reducing Scam Calls Code was developed by the telco industry and has been registered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The Code sets out the processes for telcos to identify, trace and block scam calls.
Mr McCormack said that over the course of 2020, the Scam Telecommunications Action Taskforce, comprising representatives of the telecommunications industry, government and the communications regulator, had been focused on tackling three scams – the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) scam, “Wangiri” scam calls and international scam calls.
The ATO scam involved Australians receiving calls which appeared to come from a legitimate phone number used by the ATO – this is called “overstamping” or “‘spoofing”. In the 12 months to October 2019, the ATO received more than 160,000 reports of scams involving spoofed numbers. Telcos used software to identify calls using ATO numbers and block them.
Wangiri is a Japanese word for “one ring and drop”. Victims receive a missed call, often from an international number. When they call back, the call is charged at a premium rate. The Reducing Scam Calls Code requires telcos to monitor, trace and block Wangiri scam calls.
In relation to international calls, Mr McCormack said evidence suggested the majority of scam traffic originated from overseas. The new Code requires telcos to monitor, trace and work with international carriers to block international scam calls.
Mr McCormack said telcos were already taking action to stop scammers and had blocked more than 30 million scam calls over the past year. Despite these measures, Australians lost nearly $36 million to scammers in 2020.
The new Code follows measures by the Government in October to stop scammers hijacking peoples’ mobile telephone numbers in order to steal money from their accounts.
“The community can take comfort in knowing the Government is always working to protect them from scammers but I urge and encourage everybody to be vigilant and careful when they answer calls because these scammers continually develop new ways to fleece people and they will sink to the lowest depths of human behaviour to line their own pockets,” Mr McCormack said.