CBA combats scams with new holds, declines, and limits on cryptocurrency exchange payments.

In order to better safeguard customers from the risks of scams associated with making specific payments to cryptocurrency exchanges, Commonwealth Bank has today unveiled new measures.

Certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges will starting today be declined by CBA or held for 24 hours1. The Bank will also impose $10,000 monthly limits in the upcoming months so that it can determine whether a customer's payments are to cryptocurrency exchanges for purchases.

CBA will closely monitor the effects of these scam response measures and continuously evaluate them.

"Consumer interest in cryptocurrencies has been growing, but regrettably, scammers worldwide are capitalising on this trend and disguising themselves as legitimate investment opportunities or diverting money into cryptocurrency exchanges," said James Roberts, general manager of group fraud management services at Commonwealth Bank.

The introduction of 24-hour holds, declines, and limits on outbound payments to cryptocurrency exchanges will aid in reducing the number of scams and the amount of money that customers lose through them. Scams are becoming more prevalent, and in many cases, victims suffer significant losses as a result.

Customers who send money to cryptocurrency exchanges are currently at a much higher risk of falling victim to fraud.While the risk of customers losing money as a result of a scam involving a payment to a cryptocurrency exchange will not be completely eliminated by these measures, they are a part of a number of initiatives aimed at lowering that risk, according to Mr. Roberts.

The new measures come in response to CBA's announcement that, as part of a comprehensive national strategy to help combat scams and frauds throughout the community, it will make its industry-leading NameCheck anti-fraud technology available to external organisations that process payments in Australia.

NameCheck helps customers ensure that money is being sent to the correct account by using cutting-edge technology and payment data to indicate whether the entered account details look right. Customers can currently access it through NetBank, the CommBank App, and CommBiz for businesses.

As part of a larger national focus by the government, regulators, banks, and other industry sectors, CBA is committed to helping keep customers safe. "Across Australia, a whole-of-ecosystem approach is required to combat scams. In order to keep Australians safe, we are dedicated to working with the government, regulators, banks, telcos, and other industry sectors, Mr. Roberts said.

To recall, to cut down on scam losses, Westpac has started testing new customer protections for some cryptocurrency payments.

The most recent Westpac data reveals that a third of all scam payments are sent directly to a cryptocurrency exchange, and that investment scams account for about half of all scam losses.

The new security measures, according to Scott Collary, Executive of Customer Services and Technology at Westpac Group, could help customers save millions of dollars.

The financial ecosystem can legitimately benefit from the use of digital exchanges. But we've noticed that scammers are increasingly using foreign exchanges since the emergence of digital currency," Mr. Collary said.

"Frequently, our customers don't realise they've been conned until the money has already left the country, which makes recovery very challenging.

"The trial of our new security measures will better safeguard clients against fraud. It will specifically target investment scams, which have a terrible effect on our clients.

Over the upcoming weeks, a phased trial of the new protection blocks will be implemented.

Westpac's scam and fraud teams catch more than 60% of scam attempts. To better protect our customers, we are constantly updating our security.

The new measures come after other recent scam initiatives, such as Westpac Verify, which notifies customers if there may be a potential account name mismatch for some payments to a new BSB and account number or when money is sent to an account with which Westpac has never done business before.

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