ABA CEO Simon Birmingham on scams targeting seasonal workers: transcript of interview on ABC Pacific Beat

E&OE 
Radio Interview 
ABC Pacific Beat  
28 November 2025 

Topics: Loan scams impact seasonal workers; Scam protection tips

Host: Welcome back to Pacific Beat. Seasonal and PALM scheme workers in Australia are being advised to stay vigilant and not share their personal details with anyone. It follows an alert issued by Commonwealth Bank warning about scams targeting seasonal workers. Simon Birmingham, the CEO of the Australian Banking Association, told Lucy Cooper, the workers are particularly vulnerable.

Simon Birmingham (Guest): Australia’s banks are always on the lookout for scams that might be ripping off their customers, be they Australian citizens, seasonal workers, or others banking through the Australian banking system. And Commonwealth Bank have recently identified particular risks in relation to dodgy loan or credit scams where seasonal workers, PALM scheme workers are being trapped into potentially providing upfront payments for loans, giving away account details, then losing money for products that definitely are not coming from banks, and for people who are only pretending to be acting on behalf of banks.

Lucy Cooper: What kind of scams would traditionally target seasonal workers?

Simon Birmingham: We see with these types of loan or credit scams is that Pacific workers are being asked to provide upfront payments and application fees for loans which they shouldn’t be facing, that they are being asked to give away certain account access details which nobody should ever do, and that they are potentially, sometimes even still being lumbered with credit products and loans that are not wise for them to have or that they don’t actually know about, because by giving away information, people are then going and writing these loans on their behalf, without their knowledge.

Lucy Cooper: Are seasonal workers considered to be a group or more at risk of being scammed?

Simon Birmingham: Any one of us can potentially be scammed, and we see Australians and people all around the world, of all educational standards and backgrounds being scammed, but certainly lower levels of financial literacy, less exposure to banking products and how loans and credit facilities work increase the risk that somebody may be scammed. In the case of Pacific workers and PALM scheme workers, the risk there is that they may not have had that same exposure, are unlikely to, in fact, of more sophisticated banking products, of how Australian banks work and of credit schemes, and that means that unscrupulous people can come along and are coming along and targeting these workers, trying to get them to sign up to processes where it’s sold as getting access to money faster and that more money faster, though, is either a complete scam or in trapping people in loans that they don’t really need and wouldn’t necessarily want if they fully understood it.

Lucy Cooper: What tips do you have for seasonal workers to avoid being scammed?

Simon Birmingham: People need to be really careful to avoid using unknown agents or brokers who just approach them out of the blue. If they need financial support, to make sure they are going through upfront with banks or through other trusted sources in terms of their PALM employers and coordinators who can help them, and that PALM workers, just like everybody else, should never be giving away or providing internet banking passwords one time, codes or any access to their accounts for other people to get into their accounts.

Lucy Cooper: Where can seasonal workers access help if they need it?

Simon Birmingham: So, the help is really there to go through PALM employers, coordinators and those who’ve helped them into Australia, but also to go definitely to banks, particularly if people think they have been scammed or an attempted scam is underway, to contact their bank and let them know. To, Scamwatch is an important source as well, and if they’ve shared identity documents, then IDCARE is a support service that can help people deal with the fact they may have given away parts of their identification and how to restore protection of that identity.

Host: And there’s Simon Birmingham, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Banking Association.

Ends

Scams & Fraud