News

Consumer Action, Financial Rights and CHOICE are calling on the banking industry to do more to prevent scams, as increasing losses are having a devastating impact on individuals and the Australian economy. There is a clear need for industry wide collaboration to improve scam detection, prevention and treatment of victims. To date, we have been deeply disappointed by the efforts of the banking industry to take meaningful steps toward these goals.

The banking industry has failed to collectively invest in initiatives which would assist customers affected by scams. Sending and receiving banks whose systems are used by scammers have consistently failed to communicate effectively with each other in a timely manner, which has perpetuated the harm caused by scam victims. Furthermore, the failure of banks to adopt simple and common-sense Confirmation of Payee technology is further indicative of laggard industry practices.

Read our full submission (PDF).