The Scam Technology Project looked at ways to fight phone scams.
We worked with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Cyber Security Centre. Experts from industry, government and overseas regulators helped us reach our findings.
Our action plan
Our Combating scams report called for immediate action to tackle common scams.
It featured a three-point action plan to reduce scam calls. Telco industry and government stakeholders worked together to complete action items in 2020.
| Action | Lead | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Establish a scam telecommunications action taskforce (STAT) to provide government and industry coordination and oversight of telecommunications scam minimisation strategies. |
ACMA |
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STAT met 3 times over 2020 and will continue meeting in 2021. |
| 2 | Develop enforceable obligations for telco providers to detect, trace, block and otherwise disrupt scam calls. | Telco industry/ACMA |
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Reducing Scam Calls Industry Code registered 2 December 2020. Published phone scam educational resources to raise awareness about phone scams and how to combat them. |
| 3 | Immediate trials of industry-wide scam reduction initiatives. | Telco industry |
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Telcos trialled scam reduction ideas and blocked over 30 million scam calls in 2020. |
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Report a scam
To report scams, go to the Scamwatch website.