Consumer Protection Minister Sheila McHale will unleash an army of mystery shoppers, aiming to catch misleading advertisers through a series of "sting" operations.
The full text of a Ministerial announcement is pasted below
The State Consumer Watchdog will use new 'mystery shopping' stings to catch traders across Western Australia who flaunt laws designed to protect consumers.
Consumer Protection Minister Sheila McHale said 'mystery shoppers' would scrutinise discount claims, misleading advertising and checkout scanners and especially target jewellery stores and travel agencies.
"Traders should consider themselves on notice - the gloves are off," Ms McHale said.
"Consumer Protection officers will be working to flush out any traders not doing the right thing and they need to know their chances of getting caught are now higher.
Ms McHale said the jewellery industry recently had a taste of the new approach when a nation-wide blitz scrutinised discount claims and misleading advertising and catalogues in the lead-up to Mothers Day.
She said 65 stores across Perth were visited and eight were asked to substantiate claims in their advertising and promotions.
"Travel agents are also on notice after consumers raised issues of anomalies including the availability of advertised specials," the Minister said.
The Minister said the new campaign would include more frequent checks on electronic scanning at checkouts.
"Mystery shopping, test purchases and inspections will be used to ensure consumers aren't being ripped off," Ms McHale said.
"A recent audit of price scanning equipment revealed an 8 per cent error rate, largely attributed to information not being entered into checkout registers properly or staff failing to recognise items on special."
Ms McHale said the Government recently strengthened consumer protection laws by introducing $1000 and $2000 on-the-spot infringements, similar to those motorists received for traffic offences.
"Infringement notices allow for a quick and effective penalty and also serve as a deterrent for future offences," the Minister said.
