Westpac, Australia’s oldest bank, has announced a trial to help protect customers from cryptocurrency-related scams. The trial, which the bank hopes will reduce “devastating” losses, is the first of its kind in Australia.
Cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular in recent years, with more and more people turning to digital currencies as an investment option. However, the rise of digital currencies has also seen a rise in cryptocurrency-related scams, with many Australians falling victim to investment scams.
Scott Collary, Westpac Group’s technology executive, stated the new security measures could potentially save customers millions of dollars.
“Since digital currency has risen in popularity, scammers have begun to take advantage of digital exchanges overseas in order to scam customers. Unfortunately, these customers usually don’t discover they have been scammed until the money has already left the country, making it almost impossible to recover their funds. Despite this, digital exchanges still have a relevant role to play in the financial ecosystem,” Mr Collary said.
In late May, a phased trial of the new protection blocks will be implemented, alongside other recent initiatives such as Westpac Verify. Westpac Verify is designed to alert customers when there is a potential mismatch of account name for payments to a new BSB and account number, or when money is sent to an account which Westpac has never interacted with before.
