❓ WA Government agencies within the Health and Culture and the Arts portfolios report no losses due to recent scams targeting businesses. Measures are in place to verify payments and bank account details to prevent future losses.
AnsweredQoN 5851Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the online news article published by the ABC online on 17 August 2016 in relation to scammers stealing $500,000 from West Australian businesses over the past two years as reported by the Department of Consumer Protection, and I ask: (a) have any WA Government agencies within the Minister’s
portfolio of responsibility fallen victim to these scams over the past two
years; (b) if
so which agencies have been impacted; (c) for each agency impacted, what was the nature of, and the
dollar amount lost in connection to each scam; (d) have
criminal charges been laid against any persons or entities in connection to
these scams; and (e) what
measures have you taken to ensure that public funds are not lost to scammers
via WA Government agencies?
portfolio of responsibility fallen victim to these scams over the past two
years; (b) if
so which agencies have been impacted; (c) for each agency impacted, what was the nature of, and the
dollar amount lost in connection to each scam; (d) have
criminal charges been laid against any persons or entities in connection to
these scams; and (e) what
measures have you taken to ensure that public funds are not lost to scammers
via WA Government agencies?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
19 October 2016
Responded by
Minister for Health; Culture and the Arts
Response time
35 days
Animal Resources Authority (ARA)
(a) No.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) The ARA use standard operating procedures outlined in their accounting manual to mitigate potential misappropriation of agency funds.
Department of Health
(a) No scams of this nature have been identified.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) Following advice provided by the Department of Commerce on 18 August 2016 regarding the scam outlined in the media report, an internal review was undertaken of the processes and controls in place to change the bank account details of suppliers and contractors.
The review identified that:
As an additional measure to address this scam risk, a secondary validation check is now required to be undertaken by authorised WA Health officers. This involves confirmation and verification that requests for changes to bank account details are genuine, prior to making any changes to the vendor master file.
Healthway
(a) No.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) Controls are in place to verify payments and bank account details. This includes contacting organisations to confirm any changed bank account details.
Health and Disability Services Complaints Office
(a) No.
(b-d) Not Applicable.
(e) Controls are in place to verify payments for the provision of goods and/or services to HaDSCO. Any changes to bank account details are checked as part of the authorisation process.
Culture and the Arts Portfolio
(a) No.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) Any requests received to change the bank account details of suppliers require relevant supporting documentation prior to the processing of payments. Invoices including bank details are checked and approved by the accountable authority before payment is completed.
All of the invoices received by the Finance Support Team are electronically approved by the agency before payment is processed. The finance processing officer checks the bank account details on the invoice against the account details listed in the finance system before processing invoices. If there is a discrepancy to the bank account between the finance system and the invoice the agency is informed and they are required to investigate. If changes are validated the agency must complete a supplier maintenance form so that the finance system is updated.
(a) No.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) The ARA use standard operating procedures outlined in their accounting manual to mitigate potential misappropriation of agency funds.
Department of Health
(a) No scams of this nature have been identified.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) Following advice provided by the Department of Commerce on 18 August 2016 regarding the scam outlined in the media report, an internal review was undertaken of the processes and controls in place to change the bank account details of suppliers and contractors.
The review identified that:
As an additional measure to address this scam risk, a secondary validation check is now required to be undertaken by authorised WA Health officers. This involves confirmation and verification that requests for changes to bank account details are genuine, prior to making any changes to the vendor master file.
Healthway
(a) No.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) Controls are in place to verify payments and bank account details. This includes contacting organisations to confirm any changed bank account details.
Health and Disability Services Complaints Office
(a) No.
(b-d) Not Applicable.
(e) Controls are in place to verify payments for the provision of goods and/or services to HaDSCO. Any changes to bank account details are checked as part of the authorisation process.
Culture and the Arts Portfolio
(a) No.
(b-d) Not applicable.
(e) Any requests received to change the bank account details of suppliers require relevant supporting documentation prior to the processing of payments. Invoices including bank details are checked and approved by the accountable authority before payment is completed.
All of the invoices received by the Finance Support Team are electronically approved by the agency before payment is processed. The finance processing officer checks the bank account details on the invoice against the account details listed in the finance system before processing invoices. If there is a discrepancy to the bank account between the finance system and the invoice the agency is informed and they are required to investigate. If changes are validated the agency must complete a supplier maintenance form so that the finance system is updated.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.