"We need to join the whole system, so that we break the scamming chain"
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) has emphasised the importance of a united front to combat scams as it responded to growing concerns about the increase in sophisticated scams targeting bank customers.
In a recent interview with television news program The Project, Anna Bligh (pictured above), chief executive of the Australian Banking Association, acknowledged the devastating impact of the scams, noting that the issue extends beyond banks, involving telco providers and other platforms where scams originate.
“It never starts in your bank, it starts on your phone, on your laptop, in an SMS on a search engine,” Bligh said. “We need to join the whole system, so that we break the scamming chain.”
While Bligh is hopeful about future technological solutions to prevent impersonation of banks and other organisations, she advised customers to remain cautious. She underscored that banks will never ask customers to transfer funds over the phone.
“If someone rings and says, ‘I’m from your bank’s fraud department, and I need you to transfer money to another account,’ they’re a scammer. Hang up,” she said.
Bligh stressed the need for customer vigilance, but acknowledged the role of banks and other entities in protecting against scams.
“In Australia, in the last 12 months, we’ve started to see scams and the amount of money lost to scams in decline for the first time in more than a decade,” she said, suggesting that current measures are beginning to be effective.
Bligh also addressed the contentious issue of reimbursement, particularly when scams originate from sources other than the bank, such as telcos or social media platforms. She argued that there is a legitimate question about whether banks should be solely responsible for reimbursing customers in such cases.
“If the customer directs the bank to make a payment? Banks are legally required to follow that direction,” she said. “They can put delays in, they can try to talk to customers, that can try to prevent it.
“But what I think the other important thing here is, banks are not the final judge on this if a customer has lost money through a scam where they directed the bank to make the payment, they can take a complaint to a free financial complaints authority who oversees these complaints of this nature.
“And if that authority thinks the bank was liable or should be liable, then they will direct the bank to make a full payment. That’s not an unfair system.”
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