The NSW government is being accused of failing to alert the public to "insidious and pervasive" scams since the departure of a former NSW Fair Trading commissioner.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Labor says since the exit of Rod Stowe in 2017, the government has ceased regular scam warnings about the likes of travelling conmen, and tax office and phishing scams.
Opposition consumer affairs spokeswoman Julia Finn said people needed to be constantly warned of scammers.
"Under the stewardship of Mr Stowe, older citizens were regularly warned about travelling conmen and he orchestrated a highly-successful national strategy to take the fight up to those organised crime gangs," Ms Finn said in a statement on Wednesday.
"These gangs target seniors and rural and regional consumers in particular."
However, the state government says the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's ScamWatch is the main body responsible for scammer records and consumer warnings.
ScamWatch is under Commonwealth jurisdiction.
"There's great benefit to the community by having a single source of information for scams in the ACCC, including the avoidance of resource duplication and clear, consistent messaging," a spokesman for Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson said in a statement.
"Scammers are often online, or operating from another country so they don't tend to worry about our state jurisdictions."
The spokesman said Fair Trading continued to put out warnings to consumers on a range of issues, "including on occasion to warn against dodgy tradies and scammers".
Mr Stowe said he couldn't comment on Fair Trading's performance or scam warnings since his exit.
But he said consumer education and scam awareness were vital roles for all consumer protection agencies, whether they were state or Commonwealth based.
"The ACCC can't do it all themselves. Everyone needs to step up and protect our vulnerable consumers," he told AAP.
Mr Stowe has been "astounded" by the persistence of phone scammers, and travelling conmen were known to strike in the wake of natural disasters such as the current bushfires.
He said romance scams were also "one of the most financially devastating" and "they just keep morphing".
Australian Associated Press
