The ACMA says Symbio is the first telco found guilty of breaching the Reducing Scam Calls Industry Code, which came into effect in December 2020.

According to ACMA, the code was developed by the telco industry and Communications Alliance, and was a direct recommendation of the watchdog’s Combating Scams Action Plan.

Major telcos report blocking over 30 million scam calls across the last 12 months as they undertook work to trial the identification and reduction of scam calls, the ACMA said.

Symbio failed to investigated scam calls, the ACMA investigation found. It only investigated nine of the 777,268 calling line identifications provided to it.

Symbio also failed to investigate and trace the origin of other alleged scam calls as soon as possible, after it was notified of them in October 2021.

Update as of 24 June 2022: 

Symbio has responded to ACMA's warning, issuing a following statement:

"Symbio acknowledges receipt of the ACMA’s recent formal warning regarding the Reducing Scam Calls Industry Code. We appreciate the opportunity to engage with the ACMA and have cooperated with its recent investigation."

"As a key player in the telecommunications industry, Symbio takes its compliance responsibilities very seriously. As part of our continuous improvement program, we have reviewed and updated our operational processes; improved our systems and enhanced our automated solutions. These measures will assist with investigating and tracing bulk scam calls."

"Symbio remains committed to reducing scam calls to protect members of the public and best serve the interests of our industry.”

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 22 June 2022.