Australia's dispute resolution scheme for financial services says it's receiving an unsustainable number of complaints about banks driven by a rise in scams. The banking industry says it's investing millions of dollars in scam prevention, but the complaints authority says the sector could do more to resolve issues. So, if you have been scammed what are your chances of getting your money back not from the scammers but from your bank?
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 We've seen an explosion in calls to our services over the last few years, but particularly
00:07 in the last, say, 12 months or so for people who are calling about scam losses.
00:12 And it's becoming a massive issue.
00:15 The ACCC reported that last year there were over $3.1 billion lost to scams across Australia.
00:22 And signs are that that figure is going to, at the very least, remain steady or possibly
00:26 increase across 2023 as well.
00:29 So if you can't get the money back from the scammers, which is realistically unlikely,
00:33 of course, what are your chances of getting your bank to refund it?
00:38 So it can depend on the situation, I guess, is probably the short answer.
00:42 Look, if the transactions are made from your account and you have no knowledge of them
00:46 whatsoever, your chances are actually pretty good.
00:49 So in those circumstances, the transactions are generally considered unauthorised at law,
00:54 which makes sense.
00:56 And in most cases, the bank is actually liable for these transactions and required to reimburse
01:01 you.
01:02 So that can apply if it turns out you're the victim of, say, like credit card skimming
01:05 or a phishing scam, where scammers use a fake website to get your card details.
01:10 Unfortunately, right now, the situation's not so good when it's a scam involving, I
01:15 guess, what is called an authorised scam.
01:17 So that's when the victim has actually pressed send on the actual transaction.
01:25 Can you explain that a little bit more?
01:27 What sort of circumstances might that happen?
01:30 So a lot of the cases that we see involve situations like, say, investment scams or
01:34 romance scams, where someone has been in touch with a scammer, the scammer's convinced them
01:41 to send money to another bank account.
01:43 In a lot of cases, people might think that they're sending it to a bank account that
01:46 they might have control of or that they're providing it to a person who is acting fraudulently.
01:53 And so when you've pressed send, it can be a lot more difficult to get your money back
01:57 and the law is a lot less forgiving.
02:00 We think that this is actually a bit of an artificial distinction in reality, because
02:04 in both cases, you're a victim of fraud.
02:06 So it's not really something that we think it's fair for consumers to not get their money
02:11 back in those circumstances.
02:12 Well, that's the question, I guess, isn't it, Tom?
02:14 Where does the responsibility lie in stopping fraud?
02:16 Is it up to the banks to put in enough layers of security to prevent scammers from scamming?
02:22 Or is it a case of buy beware for consumers?
02:25 Yeah, so this is a question that government's actually consulting on right now through the
02:29 Treasury Department.
02:31 And we think that there's a lot more that banks and other industries can do to make
02:34 their platforms safer and better protect consumers from scammers.
02:38 It seems to us as though it's almost been treated a little bit as inevitable, that scammers
02:43 will find ways to contact us, reach us, and then also find ways to outsmart bank systems.
02:51 We doubt this would be the case if it was the bank or the telco's money that they were
02:56 going to be liable for the losses.
02:58 And in a lot of cases, it seems like when there are security advances that are being
03:04 proposed, it's a question of investment and prioritisation.
03:08 So we're calling on the government to change the laws in this space so that customers no
03:12 longer wear the financial burden for scam losses, and industries treat this as more
03:16 of a priority.
03:17 Very quickly, Tom, if you're a customer who has been scammed, the bank says it won't give
03:21 you the money back.
03:23 Is there anything else you can do?
03:25 So you can go through, all banks have to have a formal internal dispute resolution process
03:31 where they will review the outcome.
03:33 And then if you're not satisfied with that, you can go to the Australian Financial Complaints
03:37 Authority or the banking ombudsman that you mentioned before.
03:41 As you said, AFCA, the acronym has seen a bit of an explosion in cases and it can take
03:48 a bit of time, but they will always apply the law and work out whether the bank has
03:51 complied with it.
03:52 And it's a free service, so there's nothing to lose by having a crack and going through
03:56 that process.
03:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]