ATO joins AFCX

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has become a full member of the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX).

AFCX was designed by Australian banks to centralise and share intel across the public and private sector to combat financial crime.

It’s expected the ATO’s membership in the AFCX will back its efforts to detect and prevent financial crime and fraud activity.

The government already instigated the ATO Counter Fraud Program and allocated $187 million over four years to boost the tax organisations ability to combat fraud and to invest in scam prevention measures.

Assistant treasurer and minister for financial services, Stephen Jones said, “Collaboration across the scam ecosystem is crucial to making Australia the hardest place for scammers to operate.

“Scammers and fraudsters aren’t mugs, they’re cunning criminals who adapt and change their tactics and we need to be able to do the same. Having near real time data sharing is vital that.

“The ATO’s membership of the AFCX is another step towards making Australia the hardest place in the world for scammers to operate,” Jones said.