"Government Considers Automatic Reimbursement for Smaller Scam Victims. In a bid to combat rising scam complaints, the government is exploring new regulations that would require banks, telcos, and digital platforms to automatically compensate victims of smaller scams worth up to $3,000. The proposed scam protection framework, being considered by Labor, aims to strike a balance between protecting consumers from financial losses and preventing the misuse of taxpayer funds. While automatic reimbursement would be triggered for smaller losses, more complex cases involving larger sums would require dispute resolution processes. The move comes as the ombudsman's report reveals a significant surge in complaints about hardship over the past year, highlighting the need for more effective measures to tackle the growing scam epidemic in Australia."

Ombudsman’s report finds complaints about hardship increased substantially over past 12 months. Follow updates liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastScams come in all shapes and sizes (and none of them are nice), and the government is considering creating rules that would force banks, telcos and digital platforms to automatically reimburse victims of smaller scams of up to $3,000.Labor is considering a range of options as part of a scam protection framework.For smaller losses, $3,000 and under, what we’re proposing is that there should be automatic payment to consumers where they can verify that there has been a scam.Scams that get into the six figures: some investment scams, some romance scams. And that’s where dispute resolution processes would come into play.What we want to do is to make sure that we don’t have the wrong incentives for perpetrators to see Australia as a soft target. But the balance is that with very small claims we don’t want to have processes that are completely disproportionate to the value of the sum in dispute.Taxpayer funds should never be used for private business, nor were they in this case.When we’re undertaking whether it be community engagement, media engagement, stakeholder meetings, you know, assisting colleagues, there are arrangements in place to assist us to do that work that is right and appropriate, and it is not right and appropriate to bill the taxpayer, as you say, for personal activities. And I did not do that.Yep. Continue reading...