The Albanese Government will today launch the cutting edge National Anti-Scams Centre (NASC) – the first line of defence in the fight against scammers.
The NASC will bring together the best expertise and resources across government agencies, law enforcement and the private sector to:
- disrupt scammers before they reach Australians
- raise consumer awareness about the nature of scams and how to avoid them and;
- link scam victims to services where they’ve lost money or had their identity compromised.
The NASC operations will phase in from 1 July this year and will launch its first ever fusion cell to target scammers.
A fusion cell is an expert taskforce from across Government, law enforcement, and the private sector who will utilise their expertise and intelligence to disrupt a specific scam.
They’ll be nimble and formed to address urgent, high profile or damaging scams. That’s why the first fusion cell will target investment scams, which currently account for over 50% of all scam losses – costing Australians over $1 billion a year.
Led by ACCC and ASIC and including specialists from the banks, telecommunications industry, and digital platforms, first fusion cell will focus on disrupting investment scams to minimise scammers:
The fusion cell will focus on:
- Early intervention to disrupt investment scams including stopping scammers from reaching potential victims
- Removing investment scam websites from the internet
- Sharing information about investment scam activity to assist the private sector to take disruption action
- Providing information to the public so they can avoid investment scams
The investment scam fusion cell will initially operate for 6 months, with the NASC publicly reporting outcomes.
