ABA CEO Simon Birmingham transcript of interview on 3AW with Laura Spurway

E&OE
Radio Interview
3AW with Laura Spurway
26 December 2025.

Topics: Boxing day shopping scams; Tips to avoid scams

Laura Spurway (Host): But first today, being Boxing Day, of course, is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. That’s along with Black Friday, 1000s of people somehow still want to head into a shopping centre with the crowds, buy something new all at discounted prices, or they’re going online to get a bargain.

But with all these discounts and the increase in overall spending compared to any other time of the year, there’s warnings out there being issued because scammers, opportunistic scammers, are also getting ready to dish out the traps to hopeful shoppers, because they know there’s more of us out there. The Australian Banking Association has urged shoppers to keep their eye out for an increase in potential scams circulating at this time of year. The warning follows reports of 64 per cent of Australians saying they’ve fallen victim to a shopping scam themselves. 13 36 93, are you one of those people? What happened? Why didn’t you notice it? What tipped you off when you found out about it?

On the line now is Simon, Birmingham, CEO of the Australian Banking Association. Thanks for your time, Simon, what are the most common types of scams that we see this time of year? The common ones that that catch people out.

Simon Birmingham (Guest): Laura, well, the common ones and what happens mostly is the danger in the online environment, online shopping or purchases where you’re relying on delivery or other things, where people are vulnerable to imitation websites, to scams where they are invited to click on different links and anything where they’re asked to share banking details, bank account details, credit card details, or make payments that they shouldn’t be doing. And this can happen in a range of different ways, as Australians are, quite rightly out there seeking a bargain at present, scammers are out there seeking to steal, quite literally, from unsuspecting people, and it’s why extra caution and diligence is really required at this time of year, especially when people are going online.

Laura Spurway: So, apart from asking for the bank account details, what other tactics do we need to look out for that can perhaps tip you off that you’re being scammed.

Simon Birmingham: So, where people are shopping online, they should really check closely that they are on the right legitimate website as AI is increasingly being used as a tool by scammers. There are imitation websites that pop up look like the real deal, can look very legitimate, so check the URL address closely, that website address in your internet browser, Google or use your search engine to legitimately check again that you’re on the right, actual website that you think you are.

And of course, that old adage, if a deal seems too good to be true, then they often sadly are. We know that Australians will spend around $4 billion in Boxing Day sales this year, but also that in things like marketplace scams, buying and trading online, that they lose around $40 million over the course of the year. And that’s something that can be prevented if people just take some of those extra portions and make sure they’re dealing with known and legitimate sellers.

Laura Spurway: Yeah, one of the things that I like to do if I’m buying online is I try and look for a social media account, see how legit it looks, see the number of followers it may have, or a website. What else can people do to avoid getting caught up in the traps? If maybe you’re not on social media, and you don’t have that at your disposal.

Simon Birmingham: If you don’t have that, but you are a bit doubtful if it’s a sales site that you’ve never seen before, then absolutely searching for reviews on other platforms of that, and again, looking for known and legitimate platforms for it. But also take the chance if you can, to try to make contact with people, and really be very, very careful in terms of if you’re starting to get spammed with messages about delivery details, where they’re seeking extra payment details or the like, that should be a red flag. If you’ve paid for your goods, if you’ve paid for your delivery, then you shouldn’t be being asked for extra payment details in circumstances like that.

Laura Spurway: Okay, so the first thing you should do if you’ve been scammed is it, cancel the card?

Simon Birmingham: You should absolutely get in touch with your bank as quickly as possible. Australian banks are investing billions of dollars trying to prevent fraud, scams, cyber-crime in all its different forms, and they can’t always get people’s money back for them, but absolutely, the more information they get and the faster they get it, then the better able they are to protect other Australians and stop other people from suffering the same scam and same losses because lots of technology is going into fighting back on those scams, slowing down payments, building new systems like Confirmation of Payee, technology that all Australians, if they’re transferring money, should now really be seeing and using to make sure that when they enter an account, check that the name matches who you think you’re sending that money to.

Laura Spurway: What about something like PayPal just finally as a way to get around scams?

Simon Birmingham: Look each of those technologies, people still need to be careful. They’re not foolproof ways, and so stopping the scam right at the source is important as much as banks may invest and payment systems may evolve. The truth is that the best way to stop a scam is to not be entrapped in the first place, and so taking that care through those different online sales platforms and making sure that you’re being careful with your details is really important.

Laura Spurway: Simon, thank you for your time this afternoon.

Ends