Consumer Protection

A child safety campaign has been re-launched highlighting the dangers of portable pools with, on average, one child drowning every year in Australia and many more needing hospital treatment, some left with severe brain injuries.

The ‘Don’t Duck Out, Make it SAFE’ summer campaign involves product safety regulators throughout Australia, including Consumer Protection in WA, joining forces with the Royal Life Saving Society to raise awareness of safety measures aimed at preventing children from drowning.

The owner of a Wellard property has been fined $2,000 and ordered to pay $740 in costs for failing to lodge his tenants’ bond.

At Rockingham Magistrates Court on 26 October 2020, Anthony Gerlando Scafidi pleaded guilty to breaching the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 following a prosecution by Consumer Protection.

The law requires a security bond to be lodged with the Bond Administrator as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after receiving it. The bond is then held in trust for the duration of the tenancy.

A Mount Lawley real estate agency, its supervising director and two staff members have been reprimanded by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) over the failure to lodge three tenancy bonds with the Bond Administrator as well as related irregularities found in the agency’s accounts.

A photographer of new-born babies was arrested and has appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court today on six charges of accepting payments from consumers but failing to supply some of the images to parents, an alleged breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

An arrest warrant was issued against Melissa Sheed of Aubin Grove after numerous attempts by Consumer Protection to serve her with a court summons failed.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection Lanie Chopping is pleased that this case is finally before the courts.

Consumer Protection is advising caution for Christmas shoppers with a wider availability of credit options including ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes and payday loans which could leave consumers drowning in debt. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen increasing use of ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes which allow shoppers to take possession of the goods straight away while paying off the purchase price in instalments.

With Black Friday sales coming up and many people doing their Christmas shopping online this year, Consumer Protection is warning consumers that scammers are out to take your money with fake retailer websites, social media pages and classified ads.

So far this year scammers have stolen a staggering $1.1 million from 418 WA victims in ‘buying and selling scams’ which, according to new figures from WA ScamNet, more than triples the losses from the whole of 2019 when 255 victims reported total losses of $319,100.

A Perth modelling agent has been ordered to pay almost $12,000 in fines, costs and compensation by the Perth Magistrates Court for taking payments from aspiring male models but failing to deliver what he had promised.

WA consumers are being warned about an asbestos and demolition operator who is misleading the community, by falsely claiming to hold valid WorkSafe licences which have expired or were once held by companies that have since been liquidated.

An Ellenbrook real estate agency has been reprimanded and fined by the State Administrative Tribunal for employing an unregistered sales representative.

HKY Real Estate Pty Ltd was fined $7,000 while the unregistered sales representative Shane David Penny was fined $1,500, in addition to costs of $500 each for breaching the Real Estate and Business Agents Act.

• Six year old child recovers from ingesting alcohol-based hand sanitiser
• Consuming sanitiser can cause serious health issues
• Sanitiser bottles should be kept out of reach of children

An urgent safety warning has been issued by Consumer Protection after a six year old child who had consumed hand sanitiser was admitted to a Perth hospital.