Small and medium businesses are among the potential beneficiaries of a $67.5 million funding package to help fight digital scams, with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to receive $23.3 million to continue operating the nation’s e-invoicing network.
Electronic invoices can mitigate against the many cyber risks involved with SMEs sending and receiving invoices over email and the ATO has been working to encourage SMEs to adopt the practice in recent years.
The funding will be provided to the ATO over the coming four years, according to the 2024-25 federal budget.
At the same time, the government plans to develop mandatory industry codes to guard against scams through what it is calling a Scams Code Framework.
This will see $37.3 million spent over the coming four years, and $8.6 million per year thereafter, for regulators to develop and enforce these codes.
The regulators involved will be the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA).
Each year, thousands of individuals and businesses lose billions to scams in Australia. In 2023, total losses from reported scams reached $2.74 billion, according to the ACCC’s Scamwatch, although this was 13% less than expected.
The telecommunications and banking sectors, as well as digital platforms, will be targeted initially, particularly in relation to scams involving social media, paid search engine advertising and direct messaging.
An additional $1.6 million will be provided to the Treasury over the coming two financial years to develop and then legislate the codes.
The ACCC has also been tasked with improving public awareness of scams and will receive $6.3 million in the 2024-25 financial year to help the public identify, avoid and report scams.
The additional funding adds to a suite of anti-scam measures included in the 2023-24 federal budget, which included funding for a National Anti-Scam Centre, for ASIC to target phishing websites and investment scams, and for ACMA to work with multiple government departments to establish an SMS sender ID registry.
To see SmartCompany‘s full budget coverage, click here.
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Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
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