Australian banks now have access to a new technology to combat scammers.
A new name-matching service, Confirmation of Payee, aims to help protect customers from being tricked into sending money to criminals.
Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh said the technology checked whether the name, BSB and account number entered by a customer matched the account details held by the receiving bank.
“This is critical new technology that will help protect a customer from transferring money straight into the hands of a scammer,” Ms Bligh said.
“It is a new weapon that banks will have at their disposal to better shield customers from losing money to scams.
“When the rollout is complete, Australia will be one of only a handful of countries to have this technology in place across the entire banking sector, ensuring customers are protected regardless of who they bank with.”
She said while Australia was one of the only countries in the world where scam losses were reducing, investing further in the latest scam fighting technology was crucial to driving losses down even further.
How it works
Confirmation of Payee service activates when a customer makes a first-time payment using a BSB and account number. After entering the account name and payment details, and before making a payment, a matching service checks whether the information matches the recipient’s bank data.
- If the details match, the account name will be displayed for confirmation.
- If there’s a close match (e.g. “John Smyth” instead of “John Smith”), the customer will see the account name and can confirm if it’s correct.
- For individual accounts with no match, the customer will be shown a warning and the account name won’t be shown to help protect privacy.
- For business and government accounts, the account name may still be shown.
Using that information, the customer can then decide if they want to go ahead and make the payment, pause and check the details again, or stop the payment altogether.
