Verified scam victims could automatically get up to $3,000

The Federal Government is exploring a plan that would see scam victims automatically reimbursed up to $3,000.

Banks, telcos and digital platforms could be required to refund customers who are genuine victims of scams.

The plan is similar to an existing scheme in the UK that has seen scam levels drop. The UK scheme covers losses up to £85,000 (AU$160,000).

So, what could this plan look like?

Background

An Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey found that in the 2024-25 financial year, 2.7% of Australians (or almost 600,000 people) were scammed.

In the first nine months of 2025, Australians lost $260 million to scams, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre.

This was a 16% increase in losses on the same period of time in 2024.

UK model

In 2024, the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator announced victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams can be automatically reimbursed.

An APP scam is when a scammer tricks a victim into sending money through a bank transfer.

Victims of these scams can be automatically reimbursed up to £85,000 ($AU160,000) by their banks.

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In 2025, the regulator found scams had dropped by 15% compared to the previous 12 months.

Australia

On Thursday, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino announced the Government was looking into an automatic reimbursement scheme.

Under a plan included in the Scam Protection Framework (SPF), victims could be automatically reimbursed by banks, telcos and digital platforms through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

These would be up to a value of $3,000, and apply to verified scam victims.

Mulino told the ABC: “We don’t want to have the wrong incentives for perpetrators to see Australia as a soft target.”

However, he added that for small claims, “we don’t want to have processes that are completely disproportionate to the value of the sum in dispute.”

“Scams are costing Australians billions, and the human impact is even greater,” Mulino said.

Response

Australian Banking Association CEO and former Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham said there “may be merit in some streamlined processes for considering low-value losses”.

However, he flagged that losses should not be “shuffle[d]... around the economy,” warning it could “incentivise scammers to target low-value opportunities”.

“Our scam laws need to cover the full gamut of scam activity... such as [via] dating apps and crypto platforms,” Birmingham said.