TPG says 98 per cent of scam calls to Vodafone users came via Symbio
TPG Telecom says almost all of 25 million scam calls it analysed were traced to Symbio, owned by rival Aussie Broadband, as telcos prepare for the Scams Prevention Framework. Aussie Broadband says it disconnects persistent bad actors and has promised extra measures.
TPG Telecom has traced 98 per cent of 25 million scam calls it analysed to Symbio, a little-known internet voice company owned by its rival Aussie Broadband. The calls reached customers of Vodafone, which TPG owns, between July 2025 and July 2026. ABC News quoted TPG executive Vanessa Hicks on 22 October. Hicks said TPG wanted "more urgent action to stop this activity closer to the source and stop these calls reaching Australians".
Information Age reported that the calls often mimicked the scripts and processes of genuine contact centres while posing as police, banks, government agencies and technology firms. Symbio sells Australian phone numbers in bulk to businesses that make calls over the internet. It has about 500 customers who on-sell the numbers, and each of those may hand them to thousands of further users.
Aussie Broadband said it had appropriate measures in place, though its executives conceded that eliminating the activity had proved difficult. Chief executive Brian Maher told ABC that, "Where we find a persistent bad actor, then we will disconnect them". TPG denied that commercial rivalry motivated its public criticism. Maher argued that Symbio, as the largest wholesaler in the market, would naturally carry a higher proportion of scam calls. Aussie Broadband has also committed to a scam review of Symbio customers, more investment in scam monitoring technology and a scam portal for recording tracing work.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority checked a police-impersonation campaign that Vodafone had flagged. It said the apparent sources were several overseas telcos and it found no non-compliance by any Australian telco. The authority added that the traffic had been identified and blocked.
The Scams Prevention Framework is expected to take effect on 31 March. Regulators expect telcos to strengthen know your customer requirements and to monitor the traffic crossing their networks. Banks, digital platforms and telcos that fail to comply face penalties of up to A$50 million for the most serious breaches. If carriers and wholesalers push those checks further along the supply chain, offshore providers could be required to show their identity, the parties they call and how they use their numbers.