1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,480 Speaker 1: The government is promising to crack down on scams with 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: a new anti scam alliance. It's made up of the 3 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,239 Speaker 1: major banks, the talco's police, Google and Meta, which is 4 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:11,240 Speaker 1: Facebook's parent company, and various others. Scott Simpson is the 5 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: COMMAS and Consumer Affairs mien A stand with us morning Scott. 6 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 2: Hi, Good morning, Heather. 7 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:17,159 Speaker 1: So what is the point of this alliance? Is it 8 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: basically to get them to hand over information will freely 9 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: between themselves. 10 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, look, that's exactly right. It's to get them sharing 11 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 2: their resources, their people, their talent, their knowledge to help 12 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 2: fight scams. Traditionally, and usually what happens is that these 13 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 2: entities all work in their own little silos and they 14 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 2: have a lot of data and information that is of 15 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 2: interest to other players within the sector, but they don't 16 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,279 Speaker 2: share it. So there's a very high level of goodwill 17 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 2: amongst players. It's quite a big team in the alliance 18 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 2: and it represents some big players. So I'm very excited 19 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 2: about it and I hope it's going to help. It's 20 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 2: not a silver bullet, by the way, Heather. This is 21 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 2: not the ball and end all of scams, but it's 22 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 2: a good step in the right direction. Scott. 23 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: Obvious problem is going to be privacy laws. Right, you 24 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 1: might have a lot of information, but you can't give 25 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: it to me because you'd be breaching someone's privacy. How 26 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: do you get around that? 27 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, look we will probably have to tweak some 28 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 2: of that. Although New Zealand's privacy laws are quite robust 29 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 2: and strong and do allow for credible sharing of information. 30 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 2: But that's something that I want to look at as 31 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 2: part of this alliance setup. This is just the beginning, 32 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 2: it's not an end. So there are some things that 33 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 2: we will have to tweet. One of the things is 34 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 2: you've got potential competitors talking to each other about how 35 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 2: they do business and what information they have. So we 36 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,680 Speaker 2: want to make sure that they are able to do 37 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 2: that in a way that doesn't breach non compete rules. 38 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 2: For instance. 39 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: What kind of what could Facebook really do to help here? 40 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that Facebook could really do 41 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 2: is make sure that scammers don't go on their platform. 42 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 2: So often the first interaction that people have is maybe 43 00:01:55,320 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 2: on something like Facebook marketplace, and so if they the 44 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 2: digital providers, we're a newspaper for instance, or a radio station, 45 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 2: there are existing rules and protocols that prevent that kind 46 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 2: of advertising occurring. That's not the case in the digital 47 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 2: platform area at the moment, and so that's something I'm 48 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 2: keeping a close eye on as well. 49 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:16,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, do you reckon they'll play ball though, because they're 50 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: hardly known to be ball players. 51 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 2: Well, as I say, I've been really impressed with the 52 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 2: high degree of goodwill. Other countries are facing exactly the 53 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 2: same sorts of issues and although we are a small 54 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:34,399 Speaker 2: player internationally around the world, this is a big issue. 55 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 2: And funnily enough, if scams was an economy, it would 56 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 2: be the third largest economy on the planet, So this 57 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,959 Speaker 2: is big stuff. And those digital platform providers they play 58 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 2: around the world. So yes, we're small, but we want 59 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 2: to have the same kind of protocols in place that 60 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 2: they have in other jurisdictions as well, and that's what 61 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 2: they've offered to do here. I'm really excited about. 62 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: Thanks very much, Scott, talk to you again soon. That 63 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: scop since in the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister. For 64 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to News 65 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: Talks it' B from six am weekdays, or follow the 66 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio.