How we collect, hold and protect your personal information.
Wise Forensics ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your privacy and to handling personal information with the discretion, care and security our work demands. This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information, and how we comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
This policy applies to all personal information we handle, whether collected through our website, in the course of an engagement, or otherwise.
The personal information we collect depends on our dealings with you, but may include:
Because of the nature of forensic accounting and investigative work, we may also collect sensitive information — for example, information relating to allegations of misconduct, the affairs of parties to a dispute, or information connected with legal or regulatory proceedings. We collect sensitive information only where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions and activities, and where required, with your consent or in reliance on an exception permitted under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Wherever reasonable and practicable, we collect personal information directly from you. We may also collect it from:
We collect, hold and use personal information to:
We will only use personal information for the purpose for which it was collected, a directly related purpose you would reasonably expect, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.
Because we provide forensic accounting and related professional services, and to meet our anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF), fraud-prevention and client due diligence obligations, we may need to verify your identity before or during an engagement. For this purpose we may collect government-issued identification details — such as your driver licence, passport, Medicare card or other identity document numbers — and biometric information, such as a facial image or a short verification video of you holding your identification document. We collect this information only where it is reasonably necessary to verify your identity, and we use it only for identity verification, AML/CTF and related compliance and fraud-prevention purposes.
To confirm that the identity details you provide are valid, we may use electronic identity verification services, including the Australian Government's Document Verification Service (DVS). Where you have consented, your name, date of birth and identity document details are securely checked against the records of the Commonwealth or State authority that issued the document — for example a passport office, a driver licence authority, the Department of Home Affairs, or a Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
We do not receive a copy of your government records — the issuing authority returns only a match result, confirming whether the details you provided match the records held. This process may be carried out through accredited identity verification providers, including APLYiD (APLYiD Pty Ltd, ABN 36 632 866 794) and its authorised sub-providers. More information about the DVS is available at idmatch.gov.au.
Where we collect biometric information as part of identity verification, it is treated as sensitive information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We use it only to confirm that you are a real person and physically present, to match your image to the photograph on your identification document, and to reduce the risk of fraud and identity theft. We collect and use biometric information only with your consent, and only for these purposes.
By providing your identification information and completing the identity verification process, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of that information — including biometric information — for identity verification, AML/CTF and related compliance purposes; to your details being checked against records held by Commonwealth and State authorities through the DVS; and to your information being shared with our accredited identity verification providers, including APLYiD and its authorised sub-providers.
Your consent is voluntary, and you may withdraw it at any time by contacting us using the details below. However, if you do not consent, or do not provide the information we need, we may be unable to verify your identity electronically. In that case we may need to verify your identity by another means, or we may be unable to provide our services to you.
While we store our own practice information on systems located in Australia, some of our identity verification or specialist service providers may store or process limited personal information outside Australia. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, including through contractual protections with those providers.
We treat the information entrusted to us as confidential. We may disclose personal information to:
We do not sell personal information.
The software and systems we use to operate our practice are hosted in Australia, and we store personal information on systems located in Australia.
We take the security of personal information seriously. We maintain physical, technical and administrative safeguards designed to protect personal information against misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure — including access controls, secure storage and encryption where appropriate.
In the event of an eligible data breach likely to result in serious harm, we will comply with our obligations under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as required.
We retain personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes for which it was collected, and to satisfy our professional and legal retention obligations. When personal information is no longer required, we take reasonable steps to destroy it or to de-identify it securely.
You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. To make a request, please contact us using the details below.
We will respond within a reasonable period. In some circumstances we may decline a request — for example, where the information is subject to legal professional privilege, relates to an ongoing investigation or legal proceeding, or where an exception under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) applies. If we decline, we will explain why in writing.
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies, and may collect limited technical information (such as your IP address, browser type and pages visited) to help us understand how the site is used and to improve it. You can configure your browser to refuse cookies, though some parts of the site may not function as intended if you do.
If you believe we have not handled your personal information in accordance with this policy or the Australian Privacy Principles, please contact us using the details below and we will investigate and respond. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.
We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practice or legal obligations. The current version will always be available on our website.
For any privacy enquiry, request or complaint:
Wise Forensics PO Box 168, Capel WA 6271 Email: admin@wiseforensics.com.au Phone: 08 9727 0000 ABN 22 152 802 250
Last updated: June 2026