The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) said that it received more than 105,000 financial complaints in 2023, 9 percent higher than the previous year, which had seen a jump of 34 percent.
The number of complaints regarding online accounts rose 33 percent to 2,533. Personal transaction account complaints soared 19 percent to 13,635, followed by personal loan complaints, which grew 17 percent to 7,660.
Complaints for credit cards jumped 12 percent to 11,841, while complaints for home loans declined 3 percent to 6,913.
“We are disappointed we haven’t seen a reduction. Our view is that firms could be resolving more complaints themselves or preventing them in the first place,” said AFCA CEO and Chief Ombudsman David Locke.
“We continue to take steps to be able to keep up with the increasing demand for our service, but it’s in everyone’s interest that rising complaints are tackled at the source.”
In a separate report from TransUnion (pdf), the global suspected digital fraud rate in financial services is 4.3 percent, which is 3 percent higher than last year.
Related Stories
In another report from the Australian Payments Network (APN), it was also found that the fraud rate for the fiscal year 2023 increased to 64.2 cents per $1,000 spent for the overall card fraud rate.
AFCA also observed instances of sophisticated scam activity in the superannuation sector.
“We urge super fund trustees to review the steps they have in place to protect members from fraud,” Locke said.
“The fact that scam and unauthorised transaction complaints in super are still low means there’s a window of opportunity for trustees to act so we don’t experience the sorts of issues seen elsewhere.”
In an effort to reduce fraud in the country, the Albanese government said that its identity protection reforms recently blocked 300,000 fraud attempts. These laws were introduced in the aftermath of the Optus data breach in 2022.
“These reforms complement other critical reforms being progressed by the Albanese government, including Digital ID, the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy, the National Strategy for Identity Resilience, and Supporting Responsible AI in Australia,” said Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus MP in a previous media release.
More than government efforts, AFCA said lenders play an important role in addressing fraud attempts that may harm their trust and confidence in the country’s financial system.
“Lenders should respond quickly when people start to experience financial difficulty, providing appropriate support tailored to the individual,” Locke said.
“We don’t want to see complaints where a once salvageable situation has become dire.”
