Australian Securities
and Investments Commission
Office address (inc courier deliveries):
Level 7, 120 Collins Street,
Melbourne VIC 3000
Mail address for Melbourne office:
GPO Box 9827,
Brisbane QLD 4001
Tel: +61 1300 935 075
Mr Jamie Dixon
Fax: +61 1300 729 000
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
www.asic.gov.au
Our Reference: FOI 214-2021
7 October 2021
Dear Mr Dixon
Freedom of Information Request No 214-2021
Notice under s24AB of the FOI Act
I refer to your request dated 27 September 2021 under the
Freedom of Information Act
1982 (
FOI Act) in which you seek access to documents in the possession of the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (
ASIC).
Your request seeks access to the following:
…the number of reports of foreign exchange scams received by the ASIC in
each of the last five years (from 2016 onwards).
If possible, I would also like to know the total value lost by victims in each of
these years too.
Section 24AA(1)(a) FOI Act
My preliminary assessment of your request is that the scope is broad. In my view,
processing your request would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of
ASIC from its other operations and I consider that a practical refusal reason within the
meaning of section 24AA(1)(a) of the FOI Act exists.
My preliminary searches show that ASIC cannot produce a document specifically
showing the number of foreign exchange scams for each year since 2016. My
preliminary searches show that ASIC staff would need to check all reports of
misconduct about scams and see if they mention ‘foreign exchange’ scams or ‘fx’
scams.
I identified that for the 2020 year alone, ASIC is publicly reported as receiving 2,352
reports of scams. This is reported in Table 2.1 in the ACCC Scamwatch Report, available
on the ACCC website.
2
The second part of your request is about losses. Table 2.1 in the ACCC Scamwatch
Report includes losses reported. When ASIC receives reports of misconduct (mainly
online), there is the option to tell us this information. It is voluntary and we do not check
the accuracy of the amount that people report to us as a loss from a scam.
In 2020, ASIC received a higher than usual volume of scams reports, so the figure for
2020 scam reports may not represent other years going back to 2016.
On 1 October 2021, a Senior Analyst in our Operations team ran searches dating back
to 1 July 2016 where the case description included ‘scam’ and advised that there may
be more than 4,700 reports. Again, this would involve checking each report to see if it
is about ‘foreign exchange’ or ‘fx’ scams.
The process of reviewing each document to work out if is a foreign exchange scam for
the purposes of producing a document to meet the terms of your request. With a
conservative estimate of 2-3 mins per report for 4,700 reports to see if each report
mentions foreign exchange or fx scam, this would require approximately 156 - 235 hours
of work.
The above time estimate does not include time already spent conducting preliminary
searches or any further searches which may be necessary if your request is clarified.
Given a preliminary search has returned such a high volume of work involved to
produce a document, you may wish to consider narrowing the scope of your request.
Some suggestions for revising your request are as follows:
•
Consider reviewing the publicly available material about scams, such as the
ACCC report that I mentioned
•
ASIC’s MoneySmart website includes information about fx scams
•
ASIC publishes information about reports of misconduct generally in our Annual
Report, including the number received and a breakdown of categories
•
Consider reducing the time frame that you would like searched
For the reasons stated above, it would be my intention to refuse your request given that
a practical refusal reason exists within the meaning of section 24AA(1)(a) of the FOI
Act. However, before a final decision is made you are invited to revise the terms of your
request.
Request consultation process
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with an opportunity to revise your request so
that the practical refusal reason
no longer exists before a final decision is made. If you
revise your request, please consider the issues raised in this notice to ensure that they
are addressed.
Timeframe
The statutory timeframe for giving an applicant a decision on a request for access
under the FOI Act is 30 days from the day the agency receives the request. Please note
that in line with section 24AB(8) of the FOI Act, the time for processing your request is
suspended from the day that you receive this letter, and resumes on the day after ASIC
receives from you one of the following:
1. written notification that you wish to withdraw the request;
2. a revised written request addressing the matters raised above; or
3. written notification that you do not wish to revise your request.
3
If you choose to do one of the following actions above mentioned, you must do so
within 14 days of the date of this letter
(the consultation period). If I have not heard
from you by the end of the consultation period, your request will be taken to be
withdrawn in line with section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act.
If you wish to withdraw the request in writing, this must also be done within the
consultation period. A written notification of withdrawal is effective at the time of the
withdrawal. Section 24AB(7) provides that a withdrawal is effective at the end of the
consultation period if the applicant does not take any action.
During the consultation period you can contact me for assistance in reframing your
request. If you have any questions, please contact me by email at
xxxxx.xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Yours sincerely
Fiona Crowe
Authorised decision-maker pursuant to subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act
For the Australian Securities & Investments Commission
