Bankwest tech tools hand power back to customers as scams increase

Bankwest's 2024 Safe and Savvy Report has revealed how technology tools are handing power back to customers in the fight against scammers, as recorded scam cases increased almost 50 per cent over the past financial year.

The Bankwest Safe and Savvy Report has been released in support of Scams Awareness Week, which this year begins 26 August, highlighting defence strategies and identifying the most common methods used by scammers.

Bankwest's Safe and Savvy Report showed a 129 per cent year-on-year lift in Phishing scams, the most common method, leading to an overall increase of 47 per cent in cases.

Remote Access and Investment (both 11%) were the equal second most common method employed by criminals.

Scammers largely took advantage of older Australians, with those over 55-years-old accounting for three quarters of the total exposure value across all scams and largely targeted by Phishing and Investment scams.

The rise in scams is now being challenged by new technology investment, with customers using 'NameCheck' to double check potential scam payments and mistaken payments more than 245,000 times since its introduction.

Bankwest's introduction of NameCheck on 10 June resulted in customers actioning more than 31,000 click-backs to double check account payment details by the end of July.

Bankwest became just the third Australian bank to launch NameCheck, a feature that cross-checks entered account information against available payment information to warn of any mismatches and potential scams.

The service is critical in tackling scam methods that utilise false or misappropriated details, such as scammers posing as a legitimate contact or altering invoices to replace bank details with those of accounts they control.

In addition, Bankwest's locking down of its Alpha Tags has been a critical investment in tackling phishing scams.

Alpha Tags are the name identifiers on SMS messages, which scammers can attempt to hijack to inject scam messages into existing legitimate message threads, appearing to have originated from a legitimate business.

Bankwest has worked with telcos to lockdown "Bankwest" and "BW Collect", providing certainty for customers and enabling carriers to block illegitimate actors, with data from one telco showing no spam cases since April's launch.

Bankwest also began introducing cryptocurrency real-time digital hold and declines in June 2023, with more than 40,000 customers having had a hold/decline placed on $221m of crypto transactions due to the interventions.

Bankwest last financial year also presented a range of scams and fraud education sessions, webinars and direct communications to community groups and customers in Western Australia.

Bankwest Head of Payments, Scams and Fraud Philippa Costanzo said: "Bankwest aspires to be Australia's favourite digital bank and we're accelerating investment to deliver simpler, safer, and more accessible experiences.

"The Safe and Savvy Report has been released around Scams Awareness Week to highlight the prevalence of the threats, with advances in technologies, such AI generation, helping scammers become increasingly sophisticated.

"That was why introducing NameCheck and locking down Bankwest's Alpha Tags was so critical in providing customers confidence and transparency in their communications and transaction activity.

"Most scams originate outside of the regulated banking system, be that phone calls, fake investment ads on social, and SMS and email, requiring a holistic response from big tech, telcos and banks, focused on scam sources.

"Bankwest has committed to significant investment in its digital channels to support customers in banking safely and securely, but the best defence will always be for customers to stay vigilant and informed of the threats.

"We encourage customers to remember three simple steps - stop, check, and reject - to ensure they pause and think before acting, check with a trusted contact or organisation, and reject any contact they're unsure about.

"The most important rule for customers to remember is to never give out SMS one-time passcodes, even to someone purporting to be from Bankwest, because that is a critical component to protecting your accounts."

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