Data released by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC) reveals the nine-month-old legislation protecting motorists from car crash scammers is helping eradicate dodgy calls.
David Vincent, General Manager at MAIC, says the decrease in reports is an excellent sign that the Legislative reforms are having an effect, but people must remain alert.
“Since introducing the new car crash scamming legislation in December 2019, MAIC has investigated 35 car crash scamming complaints, but we must stay vigilant.
“Complaints from Queensland motorists lodged on our MAIC website about car crash scammers have continued to trend down from more than 1,300 complaints in 2019, to now only 236 car crash scams reported as at August 31, 2020,” Mr Vincent said.
Before MAIC introduced the car crash scammer legislation, it was reported that more than 1.5 million Queenslanders had been targeted by relentless car crash scamming phone calls, including vulnerable Queenslanders who were particularly susceptible to the aggressive scam tactics.
“Preserving the integrity of Queensland’s CTP insurance scheme and protecting Queenslanders from aggressive phone calls and privacy breaches is at the heart of our legislation. Through our ongoing collaboration and support from key partners including legal firms, we are now seeing fewer complaints of car crash scams,” Mr Vincent said.
MAIC’s commitment to preserving Queensland’s CTP insurance scheme and protecting motorists was further bolstered with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between MAIC and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) Queensland in September 2020.
“This MoU promotes greater cooperation and consultation as well as improved information sharing to ensure Queenslanders continue to enjoy one of the nation’s best CTP insurance schemes,” Mr Vincent said.
Queensland motorists are reminded to hang up and report possible car crash scammer calls via the MAIC website: maic.qld.gov.au/hangup.
View MAIC’s latest nine-month results of car crash scamming here