Banks join forces to improve scam projections
Australian Banks have finally agreed to check account names on bank transfers as part of an industry pledge to stop scammers. The new code comes after years of concerns from consumer advocates who think Australia has become a honey pot for scammers.
Transcript
00:00 Australians are losing $3 billion a year to scammers.
00:07 Now the banks that facilitate these dodgy transactions are pledging to do more.
00:12 All banks are on board, all customer owned banks are on board and the point is we've got to lift the industry to a standard.
00:21 Banks are going to share information, put limits on transfers to high risk cryptocurrency platforms,
00:28 delay some transactions to new accounts and name check account details to help customers spot a scammer.
00:36 This is an Australian first and it will keep customers safer.
00:40 Although it all comes too late for Bill Hall who lost $26,000 when he paid an invoice that he thought was to his builder.
00:49 It's great that it's happening but it seems that they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing this.
00:55 Victim advocates are worried that banks could take up to two years to implement these changes.
01:01 In the meantime scammers are innovating, they're still trying to steal customers money.
01:07 And there is still no commitment on mandatory reimbursement.
01:11 The final piece of the puzzle in addressing the scams crisis in this country is mandatory liability on banks for reimbursing their customers scams losses.
01:22 The banks are announcing this plan as the federal government also seeks to bring in new scam laws.
01:28 They'll also target social media companies and telcos which are allowing scammers to get in contact with Australians.
01:36 This has got to be a Team Australia moment.
01:38 We've all got to work together and unless we get all parts of the ecosystem working together we won't beat the scammers.
01:45 Bill Hall hopes that others don't end up in his position.
01:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]