New data has revealed nearly 3,500 investment scam websites have been knocked out by ob体育's scam website takedown capability since it was launched in July 2023, as ob体育 sharpens its efforts to protect Australians from digitally enabled misconduct.
ob体育's latest enforcement and regulatory update highlights the regulator's investment scams disruption work, as well as its focus on surveillance activity to minimise and prevent consumer harm, targeting market integrity, greenwashing and insurance failures and promoting compliance with the law.
ob体育 Chair Joe Longo said, 鈥楥ost of living issues mean more Australians are looking for ways to make ends meet and scammers are only too happy to try and take advantage. That鈥檚 why ob体育 is stopping investment scams at the source of their promotion, removing them from the internet before they can lure in unsuspecting consumers.
鈥榃e鈥檝e already examined the way major banks detect, prevent and respond to scams, resulting in ob体育 setting expectations that all financial institutions take steps to improve their approaches. We have now turned our attention to a broader range of banks and superannuation trustees to ensure they鈥檙e doing all they can to protect their members and customers from predatory scammers.鈥櫬�
Mr Longo also pointed to significant results across ob体育's regulatory and enforcement arms and flagged further action to come.聽
'In the half year to 31 December 2023, ob体育 secured almost $60 million in civil penalties and 9 criminal convictions. We launched 83 new investigations, commenced 19 new civil proceedings, criminally charged 19 individuals and completed nearly 350 surveillances. ob体育 is in courts and boardrooms across Australia almost every single day of the week,' he said.聽
'Australians can continue to expect significant regulatory and surveillance work from ob体育 in the coming months. We are scrutinising the way lenders comply with their hardship obligations, how banks support First Nations consumers to access low-fee accounts, and how superannuation trustees deliver important member services, such as how they handle death benefits claims. We will continue to work to ensure the financial system works for all Australians,' concluded Mr Longo.聽
ob体育鈥檚 results at a glance聽
ob体育鈥檚 results at a glance - text version
- 83 investigations commenced
- 15 months - average length of civil investigations
- 24 months - average length of criminal investigations
- 80% - civil litigations and criminal litigations successfully completed
- $59.8 million - civil penalties imposed by courts
- 9 criminal convictions
- 347 surveillances completed
- 19 new civil proceedings filed
- 19 new criminal litigations commenced (individuals charged)
Download
Report 780 ob体育 enforcement and regulatory update: October to December 2023