Tag: federal court

McDonald’s hit with $250m wage theft claim over rest break entitlements

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 12, 2022
No Comments on McDonald’s hit with $250m wage theft claim over rest break entitlements

McDonald’s has been hit with a mammoth wage theft case over allegations more than 250,000 current and former workers were denied rest breaks.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) announced Friday it had lodged a “mega” federal court claim against 328 McDonald’s operators and the fast food giant itself over the alleged denial of paid rest breaks at nearly 1000 current and former restaurants.

The union, which has some 15 existing federal court claims against McDonald’s and its franchisees, said it was seeking $250 million in compensation plus penalties in one of the biggest wage theft claims of its kind in the country’s history, capturing more than 1.8 per cent of working Australians.

Under the Fast Food Award, all McDonald’s workers are entitled to an uninterrupted 10-minute break when working four hours or more. The SDA alleges that not only were employees not informed of their rest break entitlements, but they were also told breaks could be exchanged for a free soft drink or going to the toilet.

The union alleges that the conduct was systematic and deliberate and that McDonald’s Australia aided and abetted franchisees in the practice.

“The SDA has sought to fix this issue with McDonald’s and they’ve refused to resolve it, let alone admit any wrongdoing,” SDA secretary Gerard Dwyer said in a statement.

“As one of the largest employers of young people in Australia, McDonald’s shouldn’t have to be dragged through the Federal Court for workers to receive their most basic entitlements.

“Across their restaurants, McDonald’s demands consistency. They make sure each restaurant can put two beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. It’s simply not believable that these breaks weren’t denied on purpose.

“Just because McDonald’s is a multinational, multi-billion-dollar fast food behemoth doesn’t mean they can pick and choose which laws to follow. McDonald’s has the capacity and a responsibility to ensure they’re giving workers all of their entitlements.

“These federal court claims are not just about compensation and penalizing McDonald’s, it’s about sending a clear message that this systematic exploitation of young workers will not be tolerated. We won’t stop calling out these exploitative behaviors until McDonald’s cleans up their act and compensates workers.”

The SDA is seeking thousands of dollars in compensation for workers who did not receive their legal break entitlements and is asking the court to penalize 400 employers who have operated McDonald’s sites in the past six years.

The union says the $250 million figure is a “conservative estimate”.

McDonald’s has more than 970 restaurants in Australia and employs more than 100,000 people.

The SDA’s existing federal court actions are against McDonald’s Australia and 14 franchisees, spanning 196 sites.

According to the union, more than 10,000 workers have assisted in its investigations into McDonald’s work conditions.

In a statement, a McDonald’s Australia spokeswoman the company “intends to fully defend the claim”.

“McDonald’s believes its restaurants complied with applicable instruments, provided rest breaks to employees and were consistent with historic working arrangements,” she said.

“Those arrangements have been known to the SDA for many years. The manner of taking breaks has not been challenged or raised by the SDA as a matter of concern throughout successive enterprise bargaining processes for new industrial agreements.

“We are very mindful of our obligations under applicable employment laws, including the former enterprise agreement and the Fast Food Industry Award, and continue to work closely with our restaurants to ensure employees receive all correct workplace entitlements and pay.

“We value our employees highly and the great contribution they make to the success of the business.”

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Business

SDA seeks $250m compensation from McDonald’s operators who allegedly denied paid breaks to Australian workers

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 12, 2022
No Comments on SDA seeks $250m compensation from McDonald’s operators who allegedly denied paid breaks to Australian workers

McDonald’s has been slapped with a wage theft claim of at least $250 million in the Federal Court over alleged denial of paid breaks to workers.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) is seeking compensation on behalf of more than 250,000 current and former McDonald’s workers across Australia.

If successful, the union said the claim would be one of the largest of its kind in Australia’s history.

The SDA is alleging workers at more than 1,000 current and former McDonald’s sites were denied their uninterrupted 10-minute break when working four hours or more during a shift.

South Australia branch secretary Josh Peak said McDonald’s workers were told if they want their paid break, they cannot get a drink or go to the toilet.

He said in almost two years of investigation the union had heard more than 10,000 accounts from former and current employees, including young Australians, at McDonald’s stores across Australia.

“Workers were systematically, deliberately denied the rights to those breaks,” Mr Peak told ABC Radio Adelaide Breakfast.

“It’s just not good enough that a large employer such as McDonalds would create a scheme that leads to people not being paid correctly or getting base entitlements.”

The statement of claim alleged workers had to seek permission to get a drink or go to the bathroom and could be directed to resume work before their 10-minute break was up.

Mr Peak said workers were misled or not informed about their rest break entitlements and the multi-billion dollar corporation should be penalized for it.

“It is really outrageous behavior to be tricking young people into thinking they are not entitled to go the toilet if they used their paid entitlements,” he said.

“Workers never got their paid 10-minute rest break and when workers did ask for it, they were told ‘we don’t do that here because you can go the toilet whenever you like’, which is completely ludicrous.”

Josh Peak SDA — Josh Peak said McDonald’s workers should be entitled to paid breaks.(ABCNews)

The claim named 323 McDonald’s operators who allegedly denied paid rest breaks to workers over the past six years.

McDonald’s Australia issued a statement in which it denied the claims.

“McDonald’s believes its restaurants complied with applicable instruments, provided rest breaks to employees and were consistent with historic working arrangements,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman said.

Claim originates from SA

The new claim is in conjunction with the SDA’s 15 existing Federal Court claims against McDonald’s Australia and 14 franchisees — seven of them in South Australia.

In December 2020, 14 McDonald’s employees at the Frewville and Mount Barker restaurants lodged a compensation claim after allegedly being denied their 10-minute rest break.

As a result of that action, the investigation extended nationwide.

A blond woman smiling in a dress with pink balloons in the background — Isabella worked at McDonald’s in Adelaide CBD.(Supplied)

Isabelle, who worked at McDonald’s in the Adelaide CBD for almost five years, said she was not given her entitled 10-minute break, but instead was allowed drink breaks freely during shifts.

“The drink break was only for 20 seconds, or as fast as you could drink and then come back to work straightaway,” she said.

“I’d spoken to my bosses about it and they just told us that we didn’t get them, they chose to do something different, and that it was legal, it was all fine.

“There were a lot of managers who would get angry if you needed to go to the bathroom and have a drink break.

“They saw it as you being lazy and not actually doing what you need to do.”

She said she was scared of other managers at her former workplace, even when she was in managerial positions.

“I remembered thinking, what do I need more? Do I need a drink more or do I need to go to the bathroom more — and then you just pick from there,” she said.

“Now that we’re going into an actual, normal workplace, we know that that definitely wasn’t normal to be stressed about going to the bathroom or getting a drink.”

Mr Peak said the same story was being repeated across the country.

He said the claim was also about sending a message to other franchises.

“It’s also about sending a signal right throughout the entire fast food industry that young workers, just because they’re young, doesn’t mean you can lie to them.”

Tags Adelaide, compensation, court, fast food, federal court, frewville, hospitality, Industry, Josh Peak, McDonald's, mount barker, sda, Union, wage, wage theft, work

Business

Penfolds, Treasury Wine Estates wins copycat Chinese court case against Rush Rich

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 11, 2022
No Comments on Penfolds, Treasury Wine Estates wins copycat Chinese court case against Rush Rich

An Australian wine company has won a “landmark” court case in China after more than six years of fighting a copycat brand.

Treasury Wine Estates owns and produces a number of well-known wine labels including Penfolds and Wolf Blass. However, the issue arose when company Rush Rich used part of the Penfolds branding on its own bottles.

After six years of fighting, on Wednesday, the Supreme People’s Court of China ruled in Treasury’s favor, finding that the other wine company had acted in “bad faith” against them.

The court found that Chinese-Australian company Rush Rich improperly used a Chinese character which was a copyright breach of the Penfolds brand.

This was “illicit conduct”, according to the court.

Treasury Wine Estates said the other company had tried to “exploit” its brand and was happy about the decision from the Chinese court, calling it a “landmark win”.

The court ruled that Rush Rich’s registration of the Chinese character mark for Penfolds Winery was invalid.

“We welcome the Judgment by the Supreme People’s Court of China and thank the Chinese authorities for their continued support in protecting the rights of luxury brand owners,” Penfolds managing director Tom King said.

Following its “longstanding battle” with Rush Rich, Treasury said it takes a “zero tolerance approach” to copyright breaches.

Anna Olsen, global director of intellectual property for Treasury Wine Estates, said in a statement: “Protecting the integrity of our historic brands against trademark piracy and misappropriation has always been a global priority.

“We’ll spare no effort to protect our brands and will pursue our rights to the highest courts where necessary.

“This case shows we won’t tolerate attempts to exploit and infringe the intellectual property rights and reputation of brands in the Treasury Wine Estates portfolio.”

Government regulator Wine Australia was also happy with the court case outcome as it has been working hard to maintain the international reputation of Australian wine.

The case is timely as Penfolds is looking to launch its wine in China.

In 2019, Rush Rich was also slammed with a massive fine in Australia’s Federal Court after being found to have infringed on several trademarks of Treasury Wine Estates.

The company had to pay $375,000 in compensation and was barred from using the images again.

Before the Australian Federal Court case, Treasury Wine Estates took Rush Rich to the Shanghai Pudong Court.

That court also ruled in favor of Treasury Wine Estates and ordered Rush Rich to pay back 2,000,000 Chinese yuan ($A426,000 at the time).

Read related topics:China

Business

Thousands of businesses impacted by Tyro EFTPOS outage urged to register to class action

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 9, 2022
No Comments on Thousands of businesses impacted by Tyro EFTPOS outage urged to register to class action

Christine Hera-Singh found it difficult to keep her bakery along the Great Ocean Road afloat during Covid-19 lockdowns and border closures.

The mum-of-one had pinned her hopes on the Christmas rush in late 2020 and early 2021 and for a while, her South Australian-based business, Meningie Bakery, was flourishing.

But then in January last year, the bakery’s credit card terminals stopped working for two weeks straight.

“It hit dead around the Christmas break, we had customers walking out, they didn’t have cash, it was an absolute nightmare,” Ms Hera-Singh told news.com.au.

It turned out the company that she rented her EFTPOS machines from, Tyro, had experienced a national outage that lasted for a fortnight.

Overall, Ms Hera-Singh estimates she lost $60,000 from the two week outage.

Across the country, at least 11,000 companies were impacted — the majority of them small businesses like hers.

Now, 18 months since the malfunction, outraged merchants have fought back by launching a class action against Tyro.

According to a notice from the Federal Court, affected business owners now have three months to register their case if they hope to receive compensation in the event they win the lawsuit. The registrations opened last week at www.tyroclassaction.com.au and close on October 30.

Ms Hera-Singh said: “We were losing heaps of customers. We were left in this huge dilemma.

“I’m a small business owner, it’s hard.”

The baker explained how the Covid-19 outbreak meant that society had gone largely cashless, making it even harder to survive during those two weeks.

By way of compensation, she said Tyro waived the rent on her machines for a month — which wasn’t nearly enough.

Her terminals stopped working on January 7 and only came back online by January 21, a whole 14 days later.

Across Australia, outages were first reported from January 5 due to a glitch in the coding and it took until late that month for all machines to operate normally again.

In a statement to news.com.au, Tyro did not acknowledge the class action law suit but said it had introduced a compensation program to make up for the financial losses.

“Following the terminal connectivity incident experienced in January 2021, Tyro has conducted a remediation program whereby all impacted merchants have been contacted directly by Tyro and given the opportunity to claim any financial losses caused by the connectivity incident,” a spokesperson said.

Bannister Law started the class action in October last year and Court House Capital is funding the case.

According to Bannister Law, most affected businesses lost between $5,00 to $40,000 from the outage, but there were several outliers like Ms Hera-Singh’s bakery. Some businesses that had multiple machines lost as much as $100,000.

Charles Bannister, Principal at Bannister Law, told news.com.au should businesses fail to register in the next three months, they wouldn’t be entitled to any compensation if his firm won the court case.

“The outage occurred during a crucial period, being a time when everyone had come out of lockdowns and there was a general reluctance to accept cash,” he told news.com.au.

“That merchants were unable to use their EFTPOS machines for days or weeks was, for many merchants, catastrophic.

“There are approximately 11,000 businesses affected by this outage. If they do not register, they will not be entitled to receive a share of the proceeds of any funds received should the proceedings settle, subject to Court approval.”

Last week, a whopping 11,000 letters were sent out to the impacted business owners inviting them to register.

Another impacted business was Highett RSL, in Melbourne’s southeast, which estimated it lost around $10,000.

Gavin Williams, the pub’s general manager, said the timing couldn’t have been worse as Melbourne had just come out of their four month lockdown in the winter of 2020 and they needed to recoup their losses.

“There were obviously lockdowns and all that in Melbourne that was going on,” he told news.com.au.

“People wanted to use credit cards and EFTPOS cards, [but by then] all our signage was to use your cards.”

Before Covid he estimates that half of his customers used cash while the other half used cards but the pandemic changed that. Around 70 per cent of customers now use cards, making it harder for people to buy drinks when credit card machines were down.

I paid $49 per month for an EFTPOS terminal and this fee was waived for the month of January.

To date, that is the only compensation the business has received, he said.

Sports

US PGA Tour files motion in court to prevent players from playing FedEx Cup, Matt Jones, latest, updates

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 9, 2022
No Comments on US PGA Tour files motion in court to prevent players from playing FedEx Cup, Matt Jones, latest, updates

The US PGA Tour filed a motion in federal court on Monday asking three LIV Golf players not to be allowed to compete in this week’s FedEx Cup playoff opener, while delivering a blistering attack on the morality of the tournament.

Arguing LIV Golf players knew there would be consequences for leaving the PGA for the Saudi-backed upstart series, the PGA said in US District Court for Northern California that they can not “have their cake and eat it too.”

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Australian Matt Jones and Americans Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford will have a hearing on Tuesday afternoon in San Jose on their request for a temporary restraining order forcing them to be allowed to compete at this week’s St. Jude Championship at Memphis.

The PGA Tour called the players’ motion “legally baseless” in its filing and added their decision to wait two months after leaving to file the motion was “fabricating an ’emergency’ they now maintain requires immediate action.”

The PGA said players knew their actions would bring suspensions and noted other LIV players who could have playoff spots based on top 125 point finishers in the PGA season have opted not to ask for such spots.

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“The players’ purported harm is entirely self-induced,” the PGA filing said. The three players were among 11 who filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the PGA Tour last week, the first legal blow in a fight over the future of elite-level golf that could take years to settle.

The court also heard that LIV Golf was “prepared to lose billions of dollars” for the sport by sportswashing for “deplorable” Saudi Arabia – the financial backers of the tournament.

“Liv is not a rational economic actor, competing fairly to start a golf tour,” the court heard.

“It’s prepared to lose billions of dollars to leverage plaintiffs and the sport of golf to ‘sportswash’ the Saudi government’s deplorable reputation for human rights abuses.”

A court has heard the PGA believes LIV Golf is sportswashing. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

LIV Golf offered record $25 million purses and lured away several of the sport’s top names from the US PGA Tour, prompting the PGA to make major prize money boosts for many events next season.

Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer are among those who have cast their lot with LIV Golf.

The next LIV Golf event will not be contested until after the PGA playoffs, with this week’s top 70 in points advancing to next week’s BMW Championship and the top 30 making it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Gooch was 20th in FedEx Cup points with Jones 65th and Swafford 67th but they have been suspended since teeing off in their first LIV Golf event.

There are currently only 122 players in the field at Memphis as three of those who made the lineup have dropped out.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood cited personal reasons while American Daniel Berger has not played since the US Open due to a back injury and American Lanto Griffin said in July he was likely done for the season after back surgery.

Australia

Bunbury Outer Ring Road last-minute Federal Court challenge fails, construction in Gelorup to resume

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 9, 2022
No Comments on Bunbury Outer Ring Road last-minute Federal Court challenge fails, construction in Gelorup to resume

A last-minute legal challenge against the construction of a controversial bypass highway in WA’s south has failed in its bid to stop bulldozers from clearing native bushland.

On Friday, construction was halted at the southern and final leg of the $1.25 billion Bunbury Outer Ring Road when an eleventh-hour injunction was granted by the court.

But the court today agreed with government lawyers that the legal challenge “had no legs”, and dismissed the injunction, clearing the way for construction to resume today.

Judge Craig Colvin was not satisfied with the opponents’ legal argument about the legitimacy of the federal process Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek took to grant environmental approval.

Work to clear 71 hectares of native habitat for the road began last week, prompting protests from members of the local community who have said the impact on the critically endangered western ringtail possum would be too great.

At least five people were arrested for trespassing onto the site and locking themselves on to machinery and trees.

The court was told about 72 critically endangered western ringtail possums could perish as a result of the clearing and the road fragmenting their habitat.

During the court hearing, lawyers for the Friends of the Gelorup Corridor group attempted to pick holes in the ministerial approvals process.

Justice Colvin acknowledged the opponents to the project were concerned the damage to western ringtail possums, Carnaby’s black cockatoos and black strip-minnow would be too great if the project went ahead.

“It is difficult because of competing priorities,” he said.

But he said it was not for the court to decide on the merits of the environmental conditions for the project.

Justice Colvin noted the WA Solicitor General’s argument that delay to the project would be costly, and that work had been done to limit impact on possums, and there was evidence the possums would ‘relocate.’

Local group ‘devastated’ by ruling

The Gelorup group behind the legal action released a statement within minutes of the court’s decision, saying the group was “devastated” but would continue to fight.

A person wearing a giant possum costume at a July rally against the Bunbury Outer Ring Road.(ABC South West: Sam Bold)

“Our community has been strengthened and splintered by this action, and the enormous distress of watching our 400-year-old trees shredded through a woodchipper will now recommence,” the statement read.

It said the assertion impacts to the wildlife could be managed were “brutally wrong”.

“The federal minister still has it within her power, particularly in the light of this devastating news so early into the project, to halt all works and reassess. We hope she finds the will power to action this today.”

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Construction halted on controversial ring road

Tags bob brown, build a better delete, Bunbury, bunbury outer ring road, bypass road, erase, federal court, infrastructure, ring road, road building, Tanya Pliersek, wa politics, western ringtail possum

Sports

Chris Lynn turns back on Big Bash League, signs for United Arab Emirates T20 tournament

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 9, 2022
No Comments on Chris Lynn turns back on Big Bash League, signs for United Arab Emirates T20 tournament

Australian cricketer Chris Lynn has officially turned his back on the Big Bash League, signing on for the inaugural International League T20 in the United Arab Emirates.

On Monday, Emirates Cricket announced that 54 international cricketers had agreed to participate in the newly-developed T20 league, which makes its debut in January 2023.

Lynn, one of the sport’s most destructive short-format batters, was the only Australian featured on a list headed by Ashes winner Moeen Ali and West Indies veteran Andre Russell.

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The 2023 ILT20 will have 34 matches, with all the teams playing each other twice before four playoffs fixtures across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

It’s understood the UAE league could offer players up to AU$700,000 for five weeks’ work.

“It’s exciting to see how well the squads are shaping up for the first season of ILT20,” Emirates Cricket General Secretary Mubashshir Usmani said in a statement.

“Each team will consist of 18 players including four UAE players and two other players from ICC Associate countries. The quality of the names announced today is outstanding and so is the interest in our league of top players from all around the world.

“We are very excited that a select number of UAE representative-players, from our current pool, will also be considered and signed on to participate in the league. It is also extremely important to note that these (UAE) players will form part of the team’s playing XI.

“One of the key objectives for ILT20 is to provide opportunities for players from UAE and other Associate nations to perform on the big stage, and, ECB extends its deep appreciation to the six franchises for their support of our vision to grow our game and create stronger, more competitive players.”

The announcement effectively confirms that Lynn, the highest run-scorer in Big Bash history, won’t sign for a BBL franchise this year.

In May, the Brisbane Heat elected not to renew the Queenslander’s $200,000 contract after a couple of underwhelming seasons in the domestic T20 tournament.

Lynn was not only one of the Heat’s foundation players, winning a BBL title with the Brisbane-based club in 2013, he also served as captain for several years.

According to The Agethe 32-year-old was unable to find another club willing to meet his asking price, although he had recently been in talks with the Adelaide Strikers.

The powerful right-hander has scored 3005 Big Bash runs at 34.54 at an imposing strike rate of 148.83.

Chris Lynn of Northamptonshire Steelbacks celebrates after scoring a century. Photo by David Rogers/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

Lynn has been in impeccable form this winter, recently smacking an unbeaten 113 from 57 balls in the T20 Blast to equal his highest individual score and set up a Northamptonshire victory.

Although the loss of Lynn is a massive blow for the BBL, Cricket Australia is reportedly on the verge of brokering a deal with superstar batter David Warner.

According to AustralianWarner has been offered a groundbreaking BBL contract above and beyond any previous player contract.

“I am very hopeful David will play BBL and I am hopeful that all of our best Australian cricketers will play in it,” Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Todd Greenberg told the Cricket Et Cetera podcast this week.

“There’s a variety of reasons why. There’s absolutely no doubt that someone like David and others of his ilk could earn more in the coming Australian summer if they were to ply their trade overseas, but there’s a much broader discussion and a bigger picture we are trying to solve here and that’s the discussion I am having with several of our players this week.”

CA is desperate to ensure the sport’s biggest names will make an appearance in the BBL this summer; the competition has been starved of international-quality talent after the last two seasons were plagued by Covid-19.

Earlier this year, The Daily Telegraph reported that broadcaster Channel 7 had launched Federal Court action against CA in a bid to terminate its TV rights deal.

According to the News Corp report, Seven is adamant the cricketers that featured in last summer’s BBL were not of a high enough quality for the competition to meet the standard provisions stipulated in CA’s TV rights contract.

However, the Big Bash has already secured the services of former South African captain Faf du Plessis and Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, while Australian stars Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Swepson, Nathan Lyon and Alex Carey have also signed for their respective BBL franchises.

Australia’s David Warner. Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFPSource: AFP

“These leagues we are talking about at the moment are competing with our Australian domestic summer and that is the first time we’ve faced this, it is a unique challenge,” Greenberg said.

“The second thing is that the reasons they enjoy the benefits and remunerations that they enjoy under this model is because of those that came before them.

“David and others understand … and are very aware that if they play in this competition it increases the opportunity for the next broadcast deal to be secured at a higher number which maybe doesn’t benefit them specifically, but it benefits the next generation of Australian cricketers coming through.

“This is a real test of our players demonstrating the level of partnership.

“They understand they have to get the best players to play, which includes them and the best players from overseas, which is why we’ve agreed in this one-year deal to ensure that there is an international draft and salary cap – an opportunity to bring the best overseas players in.”

Because South Africa has withdrawn from next January’s three-match ODI series against Australia, the country’s international stars will be available for the second half of the BBL.

However, multi-format paceman Mitchell Starc has already decided he won’t be signing for any franchise due to the sport’s busy calendar, and Australian teammates Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins will most likely follow suit.

“I have always enjoyed the BBL when I have played it … but my approach with all franchise cricket hasn’t changed over the last seven years,” Starc told AAP earlier this month.

“My approach to the IPL, BBL, I have looked at the Australian schedule and wanting to be as fit and well-performed for that as I can.

“And franchise cricket has taken a back seat.”

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Business

Phone company Circles. Life fined $300k by telco regulator over customer breaches

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 9, 2022
No Comments on Phone company Circles. Life fined $300k by telco regulator over customer breaches

A telco company has been slapped with a $300,000 fine because it exposed nearly 2000 Australians to potential scammers.

Circles Australia Pty Limited, trading as Circles.Life, must pay a $199,800 infringement notice as well as $100,000 in compensation to fraud victims.

On Tuesday morning, the telco regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA), announced the hefty costs.

Circles.Life breached the rules for phone number transfers a whopping 1,787 times when it sold SIM cards in retail stores between August and December 2021, according to the regulator.

The phone company was found to have failed to properly check the identity of purchasers, which meant cyber criminals then “took advantage of these lapses”.

As a result, 42 consumers experienced “fraud-related issues” which included their email and bank accounts being breached.

Of those, at least seven lost money to scammers.

The costly penalty is part of the ACMA’s broader crackdown on the telco industry, after implementing sweeping changes last month to combat phone scams which are on the rise.

The phone company should have adhered to multi-factor identification rules, according to ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

“It is deeply concerning that Circles.Life did not have proper processes in place for such a long period and that so many people were affected or put at risk of identity theft and fraud,” she said.

“Combating these types of scams requires concerted action by all telcos and one weak link exposes all consumers to harm.

“It is the customers of other telcos who have fallen victim in this case by having their number transferred to Circles.Life without their knowledge.”

The ACMA also added that while the breaches should not have occurred, Circles.Life “responded quickly” when they realized the extent of the problem.

News.com.au has contacted Circles.Life for comment.

In a statement, the company said it had protocols in place for a one-time password verification for online port-ins, but the same rules didn’t apply for SIMs purchased at brick and mortar stores.

In April, the ACMA announced that phone companies will need stronger customer identity checks for “high-risk transactions” like SIM swaps, account changes or switching providers.

The new requirements, called the Telecommunications Service Provider (Customer Identity Authentication) Determination 2022, came into effect on June 30.

Since then, telcos must use multi-factor authentication of their customers’ identities such as confirming personal information and responding with a one-time code, similar to how banks operate. Before the changes, telcos mostly only required a customer’s name, phone number, date of birth and address to authorize a change.

The ACMA warned that noncompliance can lead to “strong action” including “pursuit of significant civil penalties” like in the case of Circles.Life and also potential Federal Court proceedings.

News.com.au has extensively reported on a particularly ominous phone scam known as a SIM swap hack in the past.

A SIM swap hack is when a cyber criminal ports – or re-routes – the victim’s mobile number onto their own phone, allowing them to intercept text messages and reset passwords to things like bank accounts.

In many cases, scammers were able to do so by impersonating the customer to their telco provider, then convincing the company to switch the SIM card over to an eSIM card.

Often the scammers will transfer the phone number to another provider to make it harder for victims to regain control of their account.

News.com.au reported on a Sydney man waking up to find $52,000 stolen from him by SIM hackers, while an Adelaide schoolteacher lost her entire life savings, $43,000, from a similar order.

Between 1 January and 30 September last year, there were at least 510 incidents of reported SIM swaps, resulting in 163 cases of financial loss, according to the ACMA.

These losses amounted to $4.68 million, with the largest single reported loss being $463,782.

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Sports

Cricket news 2022: Chris Lynn turns back on Big Bash League, signs for United Arab Emirates T20 tournament

Post author By mangakiko
Post date August 9, 2022
No Comments on Cricket news 2022: Chris Lynn turns back on Big Bash League, signs for United Arab Emirates T20 tournament

Australian cricketer Chris Lynn has officially turned his back on the Big Bash League, signing on for the inaugural International League T20 in the United Arab Emirates.

On Monday, Emirates Cricket announced that 54 international cricketers had agreed to participate in the newly-developed T20 league, which makes its debut in January 2023.

Lynn, one of the sport’s most destructive short-format batters, was the only Australian featured on a list headed by Ashes hero Moeen Ali and West Indies veteran Andre Russell.