Keeping Australia Scam Safe

The scam
A homeowner pays a builder for work on their home. But an unscrupulous scammer has hacked the builder’s email and changed the builder’s BSB and account number on their invoice to the scammer’s account.

New $100m industry-wide ‘confirmation of payee’ system

All retail banks have implemented new name-checking technology to confirm who you’re paying and stop customers being manipulated into paying a scammer when names on account details don’t match. You’ll be alerted when you may be paying someone you are not expecting to pay, with increased warnings highlighting your potential risks.

The scam
Gangs of scammers fraudulently open bank or telco accounts using driver’s licence and passport number details stolen through major data breaches.

Biometric checks and other controls for new online accounts

All retail banks have adopted technology and controls to better verify a customer’s identity and prevent identity fraud with at least one biometric check (fingerprint, facial recognition or unique behaviour) for new customers opening online accounts at major banks.

Note: This step will be supplemented by facial recognition initiatives by the Federal Government.

The scam
Unscrupulous scammers pressurise customers to transfer money quickly (sometimes within minutes or days) through a variety of threatening or manipulative behaviours.

Increased warnings, payment delays and security questions

Building on each retail bank’s security features and payment monitoring systems for suspicious transactions, you can expect more questions, warnings and delays when asking to raise your payment limits or attempting to transfer money to someone you haven’t paid before. This helps prevent customers transferring money without proper consideration.

Scams
The Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX) records scam losses across Australia each year. Each bank also records their own activity. Not all banks previously had access to the same AFCX intelligence or to the automated Fraud Reporting Exchange (FRX) that is used to recover money that their customers have paid to another account.

Shared scams intelligence across the banking sector

To help every retail bank track down, freeze and return fraudulently acquired funds together, all Australian Banking Association (ABA) and Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) members have joined the AFCX and the FRX to share intelligence at speed, helping to return money quicker and prevent future scams.

The scam
Many scammers use crypto exchange accounts to move money out of Australia’s regulated banking system. Once money has been moved to these higher-risk channels it is virtually impossible to recover.

Limits on high-risk payment channels

Your retail bank limits payments to high-risk payment channels (including some crypto currency platforms) to better protect you from scams.

For more information on how our new industry-wide measures will help disrupt, detect and respond to criminal scam activity and deliver the highest standard of protection for Australian customers across Australia’s 15.4 billion payments every year, please talk to your bank.