The Australian Banking Association and Customer Owned Banking Association have recently announced the Scam Safe Accord, which sees the industry investing $100 million in systems designed to decrease the prevalence of scams.
Under this accord, security will be increased, and a “confirmation of payee” solution will be developed that will increase the use of name checking technology when transacting.
The accord is being rolled out by Australian banks and credit unions of all sizes over the next couple of years. Further measures in the accord include increased verification requirements on new accounts, limits to, and increased warnings on payments to “high-risk payment channels” such as offshore crypto currency platforms.
The industry has also committed to increased sharing of information about scams and fraud trends within the industry and greater co-operation with the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange. Banks will also develop and implement their own “anti-scams strategy” to enhance their detection and response capabilities to scams.
Payment redirection, or invoice substitution scams, where scammers imitate the details of the payee are unfortunately a prominent issue for businesses. In 2021 the ACCC’s Scamwatch received more than 3500 reports from small businesses regarding payment redirection scams, the median loss of these being $3,812. The South Australian Business Chamber therefore welcomes this initiative from the banking sector and is hopeful it will contribute to a decrease in scams confronting businesses.
This commitment from the banking sector comes in the wake of the recent Federal Government cyber security strategy which also contained support services for small businesses. Namely, a $7.2 million investment enabling businesses to undertake a “voluntary cyber health-check program” that will then help businesses assess and benchmark their cyber defences. As well as $11 million to create the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service which will give businesses direct assistance to their cyber challenges, including step by step tips on how to respond to a cyber attack.
One of the best frameworks for mitigating cyber threats is called the‘Essential Eight’ — a set of practical guidelines developed by the Australian Cyber Security Centre — learn more about ‘Essential Eight’ here.
