Australian banks unite to stop scammers – how you can protect yourself

Australia’s banking industry is stepping up its war on scams and fraud, launching a new Scam-Safe Accord intended to put scammers out of business in Australia. 

According to the Australian Banking Association (ABA) and the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA), the new accord is a comprehensive set of anti-scam measures across the entire industry, including Australia’s community owned banks, building societies, credit unions and commercial banks.

One of the main focuses of the Scam-Safe Accord is the rollout of a new confirmation of payee system to help ensure that Australians are transferring money to the person they intend to. Additionally, banks are committing to introduce additional protections into their systems, meaning customers could require at least one biometric check (such as a face or fingerprint scan) to open new accounts, and see more warnings and delays when paying someone new or increasing payment limits.  

Banks are also set to limit payments to high-risk channels such as some cryptocurrency platforms to help protect customers, while also sharing intelligence across the sector to prevent more scams and to recover money faster.

Some of Australia’s leading banks have welcomed the announcement. Commonwealth Bank general manager of group fraud, James Roberts, said that a whole-of-ecosystem approach is required to address scams:

“Detecting, disrupting, and deterring perpetrators is a national priority that needs this type of coordinated response from law enforcement, government, businesses across a range of sectors and consumers.”

NAB executive group investigations and fraud, Chris Sheehan, said that “the significant industry investment into a new confirmation of payee system will play an important role addressing business email compromise scams.”

However, Westpac CEO and ABA chair, Peter King, said that “banks are still only one link in the chain.”

“We now also need to think about how we apply this same level of protection to every mobile phone, every web browser and every social media page in the country to be as effective as possible and ensure Australia is a hard target for scammers.”

The Accord follows several high-profile data breaches in the news over the past year, with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) even listing cyber-attacks as a potential threat to Australia’s economic system, noting that future cyber events could undermine confidence in the financial system.

If you’re concerned about the safety of your money and your personal details, some of the steps you could take to protect yourself online include:

1. Check if your credentials have been compromised in any previous data breaches
2. Install internet security on your devices
3. Update your operating system, software and web browser
4. Update to secure passwords
5. Switch on multi factor authentication (MFA)

You could also consider checking your credit score online for free and regularly checking your credit file for signs of fraud.

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