The post Scammers Try New Tricks To Snare Aussies’ Super Funds appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>According to ACCC chairperson Delia Rickard, the scammers are seeking to take advantage of the Government’s recent announcement that people suffering financial hardship will later this month be able to have partial access to their superannuation.
Says Rickard: “Scammers are cold-calling people, claiming to be from organisations that can help you get early access to your super.
“The Australian Taxation Office is coordinating the early release of super through myGov and there is no need to involve a third party or pay a fee to get access under this scheme.”
But it seems Australians are becoming increasingly aware of such tricks. Since the Government’s announcement in March, there have been 87 reports of these scams, but no reported losses, according to the ACCC.
However Rickard notes that Australians lost over $6 million to superannuation scams.
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]]>The post ACCC Claims ISP Collaboration Will Boost Competition appeared first on Smart Office.
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Telstra has recently inked a peer relationship with Vocus – an arrangement the ACCC has welcomed.
Peering arrangements allow ISPs to physically connect to other networks, exchanging internet traffic often without payment.
ACCC Chair, Rod Sims, asserts ISP collaboration will birth downstream positive benefits, with transparency imperative:
“We welcome the recent agreement between Telstra and Vocus to enter into a peering arrangement”
“Gaining peering with other networks enables carriers to provide more competitive wholesale ‘transit’ services to other ISPs, which should have positive impacts in downstream markets including the corporate internet market”
“It is important that the big ISPs in particular publicise and apply their criteria in good faith, so that other providers have a transparent pathway to peering status, as they attain additional scale with the rollout of the NBN and other next generation fixed and mobile networks.”
Optus, Telstra and TPG have recently published their peer relationship criteria for other ISPs, outlining requirements to directly interconnect on a settlement free basis.
The ACCC has also issued an update about its assessment of competitiveness concerning internet interconnection services here.
Optus, Telstra, and TPG are known to have long-established peering relationships with each other (and Verizon).
To date, other ISPs had limited visibility to this criteria, to determine whether or not to enter a peering agreement.
Optus, Telstra and TPG also known to offer paid internet interconnection services (i.e. ‘transit)’ to other ISPs, allowing them to gain full connectivity to the wider internet.
Peering criterias can include geographic network reach, location of exchange points, minimum capacity requirements, and symmetry and volume of traffic exchanged.
Metrics are used to determine whether both parties will receive mutual benefit from a peering agreement.
Further information is available on the ACCC’s website here.
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]]>The post ACCC Takes Closer Look At Telstra NBN Migration Plan appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>The watchdog is assessing whether Telstra’s variations will offer sufficient protection for consumers to maintain access to services delivered by the NBN. Rollout of FttC technology is scheduled to commence next year.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims says it’s important the existing service is not disconnected without customer consent: “Once the FTTC technology is ready to be deployed, the migration plan is intended to promote efficient disconnections and minimal disruption in the switchover to NBN-based services,” he said late last week.
“It is important that the existing service is not disconnected without the customer’s consent until the NBN-based service is successfully activated”.
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]]>The post Red Balloon Pricked appeared first on Smart Office.
]]>Red Balloon on March 31st and June 30th, 2017 allegedly charged four customers excessive payment surcharges with payments they made by MasterCard credit, Visa credit, Visa debit, and MasterCard debit.
Dr. Michael Scharper even confirmed that Red Balloon is charging customers more than they are allowed under ACCC guidelines.
“Red Balloon was charging these customers more than allowed under the law prohibiting excessive payment surcharges on card transactions,
This provides that businesses can only pass on to customers what it costs to accept the payment, including fees such as merchant service fees, and terminal rental and maintenance fees.”
Since Red Balloon is categorised as a large business under the excessive payment surcharges provisions it cannot over charge its customers. These laws have been in effect for over a year now.
Red Balloon since the incidents has lowered its payments to the correct amount and has cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation.
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