CCLS was pleased to contribute to the joint submission on the Government’s proposed Scams Prevention Framework Bill, along with Consumer Action Law Centre, ACCAN, CHOICE, Consumer Policy Research Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, Financial Rights Legal Centre, Super Consumers Australia and WEstjustice.
Consumer advocates made 25 core recommendations to the proposed Scams Prevention Framework, including seeking a framework that at its heart has a presumption of reimbursement for victims of scams.
The current draft of the Scams Prevention Framework proposes that victims bear the burden of navigating a complex dispute resolution system, with no guarantee that they will recover any of their losses. It is fundamentally inappropriate to require victims of scam transactions to shoulder this burden.
CCLS has joined the call for the Scams Prevention Framework to be amended to implement a model where the starting point is a presumption that the banks will reimburse victims of scams for their losses. Banks are the first and last line of defence in the fight against scams, are best placed to detect and prevent scam activity and are best placed to investigate, apportion, and recoup funds. It is reasonable to expect banks to reimburse faultless victims of scams, who reasonably believed that their money was safe.
To read a copy of the joint submission, click here.
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