I am furious that vulnerable Mallee constituents are being scammed.  In Canberra representing you during this fortnight I shared Mallee horror scam stories – including my own - as I spoke on Labor’s new Scam Prevention Framework Bill.

To say Labor isn’t going hard enough is an understatement, as they protect the big banks.  Readers will recall my advocacy to halt regional bank branch closures so forgive me if I’m not terribly sympathetic to the big banks who, like Labor, rob regions to improve outcomes for city people.

Arguably the home of global banking, the United Kingdom, sees 13 major banks reimbursing an astonishing 72 per cent of people scammed. In Australia, that figure is less than 5 per cent.  In fact, in October new British laws came into force compelling their banks to reimburse customers in 99.9 per cent of cases.

Yet here in Australia, Labor are introducing a ‘framework’, a new complaints structure for people who, let me remind you, are vulnerable.  Scammers are the scum of the earth, casting around for people who – let me put this in capital letters – are NOT STUPID.  I’ll argue with anyone suggesting my constituents are stupid for being duped out of their money.  One 82 year old widow, 2 days after losing her husband, was scammed a horrifying $157,000.  Her bank has reimbursed just $22,000 to date.  Banks in Australia do not feel the weight of the law compelling them to do more. Scammers succeed against people through phishing nets, and people are caught because they are vulnerable.

The financial regulator recently held HSBC bank liable for one scam that slipped SMS messages to a customer inside HSBC’s own SMS thread.

This week another constituent was on the phone to his wife – one of my staff – on another line to ‘Microsoft’ on a supposed 1800-number after his computer had ‘crashed’.  That scam scares people into calling a ‘helpline’ which is answered as ‘Microsoft’ but it is in fact the scammers. Do not be duped.

Please visit www.scamwatch.gov.au to learn the warning signs and discuss scam risks with vulnerable loved ones – before it’s too late.

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