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The annual scam awareness campaign has started, acting as a reminder that lenders, borrowers, and brokers can never be too careful.
Australians have been encouraged to “share a story, stop a scam” as part of Scam Awareness Week 2024, an annual campaign run by the National Anti-Scam Centre.
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From 26–30 August, the centre – run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – will lead the campaign, aiming to equip consumers, businesses, and other organisations with the tools to identify and avoid scams.
More than 143,000 scams were reported in the first half of the 2024 calendar year, according to Scamwatch, an organisation that collects data on behalf of the National Anti-Scam Centre. During this period, scammers contributed to losses of up to $134 million.
This year, the financial services industry has already faced plenty of warnings regarding the dangers posed by scams, including the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) decision to take down thousands of investment scam websites and warnings of a spike in scam activity in the wake of the Microsoft CrowdStrike outages in July.
But a recent ASIC report has suggested that some lenders could be doing more.
Last week (20 August), ASIC released the Anti-scam practices of banks outside the four major banks report, examining 15 lenders’ scam prevention, detection, and response practices.
The report, comprising data taken between July 2022 and June 2023, highlighted several issues, including:
- Significant variability in the maturity of scam strategies and governance.
- Inconsistent and narrow approaches to determining liability.
- A lack of support for scam victims.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said the findings demonstrated a “less mature” approach to scams strategy and governance than had been expected.
“In case studies reviewed in the preparation of this report, ASIC observed examples of poor customer service, including slow response times, mishandling of reports, confusing communications, and failure to identify vulnerable customers impacted by scams,” Court said.
“We expect all banks regardless of their size, to pull their weight in the fight against scams. Boards and senior management have a key role to play in driving improvement.”
Last year, ASIC published a similar review that focused solely on the big four, calling on “all financial institutions to improve their approaches to handling scams”.
“Australia’s big four banks have invested significantly in their anti-scam efforts over the last several years and have implemented a number of innovative and positive initiatives, including some recently implemented following the conclusion of ASIC’s review. However, the increasing prominence of scams means that there is still more to be done,” Court said at the time.
Lenders have also been working to help customers mitigate scams.
Just last week, NAB Private Wealth released tips to help high-net-worth individuals – who are increasingly victims of cyber crime and fraud – protect their personal and business information. Similarly, Bendigo Bank issued a warning for customers to avoid scams on social media and Commonwealth Bank announced it would be hosting more than 400 free “Staying Safe Online” education sessions for regional Australians over the next 12 months.
Moreover, earlier this month, the Australian Banking Association (ABA) and Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) announced a joint campaign to provide extra protection to shield Australians from scams, as part of the Scam-Safe Accord flagged in November 2023.
The campaign showcased a range of initiatives lenders are introducing, including:
- Unique identity checks.
- More double checks for new payees.
- Intelligence sharing between banks.
ABA CEO Anna Bligh said Australian banks have some of the strongest anti-scam protections in the world.
“While we must all remain vigilant to the risks of scams, Australians should have confidence that their bank is working around the clock to keep them safe from scammers,” Bligh said.
“Banks have a range of tactics and tools they deploy to shield Australians from scammers such as payment warnings and delays to the blocking of transfers to dodgy scam accounts.”
National Australia Bank’s executive broker distribution Adam Brown said earlier this year that brokers also need to be aware of common signs of scammers and that scams and cyber crime will continue to be a “constant challenge” during this year.
“Criminals are using sophisticated technology to manipulate victims and we’re seeing new scams emerge in 2024, such as AI voice impersonation, remote access scams using chat and QR code phishing,” he said.
“Brokers need to recognise the red flags and protect themselves and their customers.”
ScamWatch’s tips to identify and avoid scams:
- Stop – Don’t give money or personal information to anyone if you’re unsure.
- Check – Scammers often pretend to be from organisations you know and trust. If you’re not sure, call the organisation’s official phone number to check.
- Report – Report scams to scamwatch.gov.au.
- Protect – Act quickly if something feels wrong.
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