New programmes to find, stop, and teach people about scams will keep more customers safe.

Commonwealth Bank announced today that it is making changes to its strategy for preventing scams, finding them, and helping customers. These changes include new technology like NameCheck for money transfers and new caller verification through the CommBank app.

New research from the bank shows that Australians are more worried about scams than they were four months ago, and one in four of them think scammers contact them at least six times a week.

Angus Sullivan, the Group Executive of Retail Banking for CBA, said, "Every day, scammers try to hurt our customers and the community, and we are working hard to use our technology and customer insights to help keep their hard-earned money safe."

CBA is the first bank in Australia to use the NameCheck technology to let customers know if the name and account information they typed in look right. When it comes out at the end of March, the technology can help cut down on false billing scams and payments made by mistake. This is called "business email compromise." It will be on the CommBank app, as well as on NetBank and CommBiz.

"As Australia's biggest bank, we have been able to use unique technology and advanced algorithms to analyse our data on recipient account names. This lets customers making their first payment know how likely it is that the name and account details match. It also tells them what steps they need to take to make sure their money goes to the right account.

"Many people think that when they send money online, the account name of the recipient is checked along with the BSB and account number. However, in most cases, this is not possible. "We now have the information and tools to make this better," Mr. Sullivan said.

The bank has also added a feature called CallerCheck to its app that lets customers check who is calling them to make sure it is really CBA. The feature lets CBA staff send a message to the customer's CommBank app to confirm that the call is from the bank. The customer can then log in and verify their identity in the app, so they don't have to give personal information over the phone.

"Con artists pretend to be companies in all fields and ask for personal information.

"Before CallerCheck, it wasn't easy for a customer to know if they were really talking to the bank when they called. "CallerCheck gives customers the peace of mind that our call is real and can be confirmed in real time in the safe and controlled environment of the CommBank app," Mr. Sullivan said.

The Bank has recently made a number of announcements to help protect customers from scams. These include the Behavioural Security technology, which was announced last year and is designed to spot strange or suspicious behaviour, and the CommBank Safe campaign, which is part of a larger, longer-term effort to raise awareness and help protect Australians from scams.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is glad that new banking initiatives to stop scams have been announced.

“We see every day, in our work with consumers and banks, the devastating impact scams can have on people,” AFCA’s Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive, David Locke, said.

AFCA is an ombudsman service that works with consumers and financial firms when they find themselves in dispute.

In 2021-22, AFCA received 4,131 complaints in relation to scams, an average of around 340 a month. That was up 28 per cent on the previous year.

This number has gone up to an average of 400 scam-related complaints per month in the current financial year.

“It’s not just the volume of complaints involving scams that is increasing, but also the sums involved,” Mr Locke noted. “People are losing home deposits and retirement savings. We know that vulnerable people can be just as devastated by the loss of money they’d set aside for bills.

“This mustn’t continue, and we encourage all banks to consider what further steps they can take.”

Mr Locke said AFCA would continue to engage with industry, consumer groups and regulators, sharing its complaints data and insights, in the joint effort to reduce scam transactions.

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