National Consumer Congress 2021 - Virtual Lecture Series
The ACCC is planning a series of online events as part of the National Consumer Congress 2021 - Virtual Lecture Series.
Consumer advice
Easier comparisons now available for foreign currency conversions
People who use foreign currency conversion (FX) services now have greater access to accurate online calculators to help compare prices, but the ACCC says greater transparency is still needed at a time when many Australians are sending money to family and friends overseas.
The ACCC’s Foreign currency exchange services inquiry report, released in September last year, found many Australian consumers were paying too much for FX services.
Changes needed to protect consumers using customer loyalty schemes
Improvements to customer loyalty schemes and broader legislative reforms are required to protect consumers using loyalty schemes, according to the ACCC’s final report into customer loyalty schemes released today.
The report recommends loyalty schemes, such as frequent flyer, supermarket and hotel operators, better inform consumers, improve their data practices and stop automatically linking members’ payment cards to their loyalty scheme profiles. It also calls for broader changes to consumer and privacy law.
National Consumer Congress 2020 - a vision of fairness
The event will be held on Wednesday 18 March 2020 at Doltone House (Hyde Park), 181 Elizabeth St, Sydney.
Significant concerns with customer loyalty schemes
Customer loyalty schemes, including frequent flyer, supermarket and credit card operators, must ensure they are not misleading consumers according to an ACCC draft report released today for comment.
The ACCC’s Customer Loyalty Schemes draft report highlights a number of concerns:
Australians paying millions too much for foreign currency services
Australian consumers are paying too much for foreign currency conversion (FX) services because of confusing pricing and a lack of robust competition, a new ACCC report has found.
Safety review of baby bouncers, rockers and inclined sleep products
The ACCC will today begin a safety review of products designed for infants such as bouncers, rockers and inclined sleep products.
The market review will be on inclined baby products used for sleeping, where the baby’s head and back are inclined, and may include a harness or belt to secure the baby into the product.
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has reported that at least 74 infant fatalities have occurred in the United States while using bouncers, rockers and recliners.
Vulnerable consumers lose record amount to scammers
Australians who are older, Indigenous or have disability reported record losses in 2018 according to the ACCC’s annual Targeting Scams report released this week.
Australians aged over 65 submitted over 26,400 reports to Scamwatch in 2018, with losses of over $21.4 million. This represents an increase of five per cent in reports but 22 per cent in losses.
Australian businesses hit hard by email scams
Australian businesses reported more than 5800 scams with losses exceeding $7.2 million in 2018, a 53 per cent increase compared to 2017, according to the ACCC’s Targeting scams report.
Much of this increase is due to the $3.8 million reported lost to sophisticated ‘business email compromise’ scams. When combined with losses reported to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, these scams cost Australian businesses over $60 million.
The ACCC and other regulators supporting people with disability
The ACCC is reminding people with disability to use their consumer rights when buying goods and services under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and to be aware of the range of organisations that can assist when things go wrong.