Smart Business Bulletin March 2021

Welcome to the March 2021 edition of the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Smart Business Bulletin, linking Queensland businesses with fair trading information and tips.

Features

Be alert to business scams
Check out the Check-In-Qld app
New Form 5 for trust account notifications
Multi-factor authentication for greater security
Fair Trading helps return $12M to consumers
Odometer cheat in court
Easier way for workers to recover wages and entitlements

Be alert to business scams

Is your business safe from scammers? The most common scam that targets businesses is the false billing scam. False billing is one of the most reported types of scam so far in 2021 with more than $2.7 million lost in January alone.

Business email compromise scams

Business email compromise scams are one of the most financially harmful types of scams affecting Australian businesses. In a business email compromise scam, scammers use information obtained by hacking your computer systems to find out who your suppliers are. Once they have that information, they can impersonate the supplier and send you an email requesting that you change the bank account into which you pay their account. Staff will then later pay invoices or transfer money as normal, and not realise they have been scammed. Another scenario involves the scammer impersonating the CEO or a senior staff member of your business, emailing and requesting that money is transferred to them at a particular bank account for a variety of reasons, including an emergency or to purchase gift cards for employees as a surprise. Again, staff action the email as normal without realising they’ve been scammed.

False billing scams

False billing scams request your business to pay fake invoices. You may receive a phone call out of the blue from someone claiming to be a supplier, to confirm details of an advertisement or insist you have ordered certain goods or services. Scammers often use pressure tactics and insist that payment is made immediately, taking advantage of the fact that the person handling administrative duties may not know whether the goods or services have been requested.

Protect your business

Always check that goods or services are both ordered and delivered before paying an invoice, and always read the fine print carefully.
Make sure your IT security is up-to-date with anti-virus, anti-spyware software and a good firewall.
If you receive an email at work from a sender you do not know, never click on links or open any attachments. Verify the identity of the sender by calling the organisation, but do not use the details provided in the email, find them through an independent source.
Limit the number of people in your business who are authorised to make orders or pay invoices.
If you notice a supplier’s usual bank account details have changed, call them to confirm.

More information

Visit the ScamWatch website to learn more about scams and how to protect your business. You can also subscribe to receive ScamWatch radar alerts on the latest scams.

Report a scam

You can report a scam on the ScamWatch website.

Check out the Check-In-Qld app

The Queensland Government recently launched its Check-in-Qld app to help simplify the process of checking in customers and staff at hospitality businesses and venues.

In the first two weeks alone, more than half a million Queenslanders downloaded the app, and 1 million check-ins were made.

The beauty of the app is that it benefits both customers and businesses. Customers only need to provide their information once, rather than entering their details every time they need to check in somewhere. For traders it means happier customers and a faster and easier process for you and your staff to manage. In addition, you will no longer have to collect, store and manage this information for every customer that walks through your door as it will be automatically stored by the government via the app for the period required by the Chief Health Officer and then automatically destroyed when that period has expired.

New Form 5 for trust account notifications

Form 5 – Trust account notification, which is used by the property, motor, auctioneer, and debt collection industries to notify the OFT about the opening, closing, and any changes made to trust accounts and auditor details, has been updated.

The new form is easier to complete and makes trust account obligations clearer. It also allows for faster processing by the OFT.

As part of the drafting process, the OFT sought feedback from industry stakeholders such as the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, Australian Resident Accommodation Managers Association, Motor Trades Association of Queensland, Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association, the Institute of Public Accountants, and the Chartered Accountants Australian and New Zealand.

Some key updates included in the new form are:

an updated introduction to help licensees better navigate through a multi-part form.
that the form includes space for a contact persons details to be listed as well as the licensees, to make it easier for licensees who spend a lot of time out of the office.
a new part to provide auditor appointment information, to save licensees having to make a separate notification to comply with section 30(1) of the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014.
a checklist for licensees to double check all appropriate parts of the form have been completed and all required documentation is attached.

You can download the new form from our website. For more information about trust accounts see our Trust accounts guide.

Multi-factor authentication for greater security

Multi-factor authentication is a way to more securely identify someone, generally to give them access to something or to authorise a transfer of money or property.

As the name implies, two-factor authentication uses a combination of two different pieces of evidence to make an identification. These can be something the person possesses (a card or token or phone), something only they know (a PIN or password or a secret question), or something they are (fingerprint or other biometric).

One common example of multi-factor authentication you will encounter is when you withdraw cash or request an account balance at an ATM. In this instance, banks use a combination of something you possess (your key card) and something only you know (your PIN).

Multi-factor authentication is particularly important when transferring money to a customer, and for larger sums of money, such as the proceeds of a property sale, it is critical.

There have been cases both here and interstate of emails being hacked, with the hacker providing “new” bank details for agents or buyers to transfer large sums of money to for property purchases. The emails appeared legitimate, but with an email being the only authenticating factor, it was too easy to make a costly mistake.

For more information on multi-factor authentication and other ways to protect your business, visit www.cyber.gov.au.

Fair Trading helps return $12M to consumers

2020 was a busy year for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) with a significant increase in the number of complaints finalised and more than $12 million being returned to consumers by traders in the form of refunds, replacements, repairs and other compensation.

This figure is well above the $8 million returned to consumers in 2019 and is matched by an 18 per cent jump in the number of complaints received from 15,808 in 2019 to 18,698 in 2020.

About 2,380 of the complaints received were as a result of the impact of COVID-19, with many consumers seeking the OFTs help to resolve issues such as travel bookings affected by the pandemic.

Personal and household goods and motor vehicle sales continue to be the top two causes of consumer complaints.

The top five most complained about industries across Queensland in 2020 were:

Personal and household goods, for example furniture, white goods (5,267 complaints)
Motor vehicle sales (1,664 complaints)
Personal and household services, for example hairdressers, handyman (1,523 complaints)
Travel agents (1,210 complaints)
Real estate agents (1,181 complaints)

As a trader you should ensure that you, and your employees, are aware of your obligations under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

By doing this, and implementing a clear customer service policy, you can make sure you are meeting all your legal obligations under consumer protection laws and reduce the likelihood of complaints.

For more information on consumer protection laws, or to download our ACL business guides, visit www.qld.gov.au/fairtrading or phone 13 QGOV (13 74 68).

To see more details about the work of the OFT in 2020 see our media statement.

Odometer cheat in court

A Calamvale man has appeared in court for misrepresenting the odometer reading on a motor vehicle and for not identifying himself as a motor dealer when selling a vehicle.

Ahmed Khodr Yahia pleaded guilty to two charges after being investigated by the OFT for falsifying the odometer reading on a 2014 Isuzu D-Max, and for not providing the consumer the guarantees of a motor dealer at the time of the sale.

On 8 January 2021 the Holland Park Magistrates Court heard that Mr Yahia bought the car from a dealer for $13,094 in August 2018 with an odometer reading of 353,087km.

Later that month he sold it for $22,000 with an odometer reading of 62,152km, more than 287,000km less than the original reading.

The court also heard that at the time of the sale Mr Yahia portrayed himself as a private seller despite holding a motor dealer licence. A motor dealer is required to provide the customer with a statutory warranty and cooling-off period.

In sentencing, the Magistrate noted the offence was a deliberate and conscious act done with a high level of dishonesty. He also observed that changing the odometer was serious as it is difficult to detect. Mr Yahia was fined $5,000.

After the sentencing, Fair Trading Executive Director Brian Bauer warned motor dealers of their obligations to abide by the law and of their duty to act honestly in their dealings with consumers.

“Motor dealers suspected of selling cars in this manner will be pursued by the OFT as this type of trading is not tolerated,” Mr Bauer said.

“Licensed motor dealers are expected to meet high standards and deliberately misrepresenting themselves to the public by pretending to be a private seller is not acceptable.

“Additionally, cars with tampered odometer readings are high risk vehicles because they do not receive the correct servicing and replacement parts they need when they are due.

“Odometer tampering impacts the safety of the vehicle as well as its value and that is why it is against the law.”

“Mr Yahia is no longer licensed as a motor dealer and the OFT has recorded his lack of suitability for licensing into the future.”

An easier way for workers to recover wages and entitlements

Under changes that came in on 1 March 2021, Queensland workers who have been underpaid can recover what they are owed more easily by lodging a claim in the Industrial Relations Commission.

Claims can be for penalty rates, unlawful or unreasonable deductions from wages and superannuation.

Small claims, of up to $20,000 for workers employed under the Federal Fair Work Act and $50,000 for workers in the Queensland state system, will be dealt with through informal court proceedings.

The first step for workers is to approach an industrial commissioner for conciliation. If the claim cannot be resolved through conciliation the next stage is to proceed to the Industrial Magistrates Court.

Wage theft became a criminal offence in Queensland in 2020 and this system, created to align with this, allows claims to be resolved in a cheaper and easier way with workers not needing to engage lawyers.

Read for more information.

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