ACCC launches action to stop Australians falling victim to dating and romance scams

Updated

The consumer watchdog has launched national action against romance and dating scams in a bid to protect the thousands of Australians affected each year.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)'s Scam Disruption Project will notify potential victims by analysing international transaction data to detect patterns consistent with fraudulent activity.

The ACCC will initially send 400 letters per fortnight to consumers to warn them they may be the target of a relationship scammer.

In June, the watchdog's Targeting Scams Report found Australians lost $25 million to dating and romance scams last year.

The report also found dating and romance scams topped the list of financial losses through scams for 2013 and affected thousands of Australians.

ACCC deputy chairwoman Delia Rickard told the ABC the watchdog is working with agencies, such as AUSTRAC, to identify people who may be implicated in scams.

"What we are doing is we are using intelligence to identify people who we suspect are sending money to scammers," she said.

"It's amounts that we know scammers ask for to particular countries - we obviously have to run filters over that because there'll be perfectly legitimate reasons to send money to these countries.

"So we run a range of filters over it and those names that are left, where we are concerned they are being scammed, we're getting in contact with these people to say 'we think you could be scammed, these are some of the stories scammers tell'.

"So if they are being scammed hopefully they will realise this and stop sending their funds."

The ACCC says it is working with state and federal counterparts on the project through the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce.

The taskforce is made up of 23 government regulatory agencies and departments with responsibility for consumer protection regarding frauds and scams.

Ms Rickard says a previous pilot had success, with about 60 per cent of people who were contacted stopping their payments to scammers.

She says the watchdog is working with various different companies to make sure consumers are protected.

"Two years ago we put in best practice guidelines to warn people and to do behind-the-scenes things to identify scammers. We will be doing a review of those guidelines," she said.

"In addition, we will be working with intermediaries who are sending money overseas.

"We have contacted the banks about what more they can do to stop this money being sent offshore.

"We'll also be talking to the various money remittance services that we know scammers use to send money overseas, such as Western Union."

The latest information about scams and tips for consumers can be found at www.scamwatch.gov.au.

Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au

Topics: consumer-protection, fraud-and-corporate-crime, australia

First posted