The Labor government yesterday introduced legislation establishing the Scams Prevention Framework will be into Parliament.

Banks, social media platforms and telecommunications companies face hefty fines if they do not take reasonable steps to prevent, detect, disrupt, respond and report scams and attempted scams in their businesses, Stephen Jones the assistant treasurer said yesterday. 

Victims will have clear pathways to compensation if a business fails to meet the new standards.

The ACCC will have new powers to direct businesses to take specific steps to keep their customers safe from scammers and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority will be empowered to resolve consumer claims over scams in these sectors.

The Scam Prevention Framework will include fines of up to $50 million for non-compliance.

Once legislation passes Parliament, the Framework will:

•    Enable the Minister to establish sector-specific codes. The Codes will impose mandatory obligations on banks, telecommunication service providers, social media platforms and others.•    Mandate these designated sectors to have internal dispute resolution mechanisms that are clear, accessible and transparent for consumers. Currently social media platforms have no mechanism for consumers to raise disputes.•    Allow the Minister to make rules setting out guidance on how to apportion liability at IDR between one or multiple businesses who are at fault to assist victims seek redress.•    Enable a single external dispute resolution scheme for scam complaints made under the Framework where a dispute cannot be resolved at IDR.•    Build a mandatory coordinated intelligence sharing ecosystem that requires timely reporting and information sharing across industry and government.