“Enough is enough,” Bligh said. “If digital platforms are serious about protecting Australians, they should be doing more to ensure people aren’t being exposed to scams in the first place.”
The Albanese government’s proposed anti-scam reforms would not follow the British model, in which banks are required to reimburse scam victims in most cases. Instead, the proposed laws would aim to share the responsibility between banks, tech platforms and telcos.
While the banks and telcos have called for an economy-wide approach and asked the Commonwealth to apportion proportionate liability on each industry, tech giants say they are not “an equal vector as the banking and telecommunications sector in relation to scams”.
Almost 250,000 scams, amounting to $3.2 billion in losses, were reported in 2024, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre. The top contact methods were emails, text messages and phone calls.
Westpac’s submission said social media platforms were avoiding responsibility “by doing no more than the bare minimum of what their world-leading technology is capable of”. It called out Meta for using sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence to deliver hyper-targeted content and advertising, but refusing to expand that feature to scams on its site.
In October, Westpac identified – and reported to Meta – a Facebook page that appeared to be running an investment scam. The page was still live on Monday, with one comment seen by this masthead stating “this company are scammers”.
Westpac and CBA also published multiple screenshots of Facebook accounts advertising to “buy or sell bank accounts” for muling purposes, with Westpac accusing Meta of allowing “fraudulent behaviour … to run rampant across its platform”.
A scam ad featuring singer Guy Sebastian. When this screenshot was taken, the ad had been live for 13 hours.Credit: Meta Ad Library
Money mules are recruited by scammers to receive funds into their bank accounts. They then withdraw the money and send it to a designated account using a wire transfer service.
One active Facebook group, titled Gameing rent bank account, had 2600 members and advertised itself as a “trusted person come genuine geming platform commission besis work daily payout USDT or INR ALSO available”.
In a post, the group administrator said they were looking for people with ANZ Plus and Bankwest accounts. “I pay you via payid after I login to the bank no delays,” the administrator posted, according to a screenshot released by CBA. “I’m in Australia and I’ll always try to give you a good price”.
CBA said the examples it had cited demonstrated why social media companies, such as Meta, “need to do more to help prevent scams and money laundering”.
“It is imperative for digital platforms to be part of Australia’s ecosystem approach to combatting scams and protecting consumers and small businesses who use their platforms,” CBA wrote.
Communications Alliance chief executive Luke Coleman will tell Tuesday’s inquiry it supports a cross-sector approach to tackling scams.
DIGI and Meta were contacted for comment.
