“Banks were already sharing some information on money mules, but the new phase of work will increase the speed and amount of information being shared,” said NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont.
The New Zealand Banking Association welcomes the New Zealand government’s support to help fight fraud at the inaugural Global Fraud Summit held in London this week.
NZBA chair Vittoria Shortt, who attended the summit on behalf of the New Zealand banking industry, says the commitment to support collaboration across sectors is essential to tackling fraud both internationally and in New Zealand.
“The summit communiqué, agreed by the 11 participating countries, expressly acknowledges the fraud ecosystem that criminals exploit to deceive people into making payments to them. Authorised push payment scams, for example, often start with a fake website result on a search engine, fake social media ad, email, text, or phone call. It’s crucial we engage telcos and global tech companies to help defend New Zealanders from scammers.
“We’re delighted to see these governments calling out the need for sectors to identify and remove fraudulent material from their platforms. That’s essential to strengthening New Zealand’s defences and weakening the ecosystem on which these criminals rely.
“The banking industry has stepped up with a suite of commitments to further protect customers from fraud, including bringing in a confirmation of payee service, removing links from texts to customers, and supporting the establishment of a co-ordinated multi-sector Anti-Scam Centre.
“Banks have got the Anti-Scam Centre off the ground by identifying and sharing more information faster about mule accounts used by criminals to move stolen money. Taking the Anti-Scam Centre to the next level will need the involvement of other sectors and government agencies.
“We look forward to working with the government to help realise the commitments it made this week in London.”
ENDS
Note: The Global Fraud Summit Communiqué is available here:
Roger Beaumont
Published in KPMG’s Financial Institutions Performance Survey Review of 2023, 13 March 2024
Scams targeting New Zealanders are on the rise, and they’re becoming increasingly sophisticated. The impact can be devastating, with some people losing their life savings. Because of the customer impact, and the fact that banks are often at the end of a chain of events that makes up a scam, last September our retail banks came together to announce they were working on a suite of initiatives to help prevent scams from happening.
“Banks will investigate a voluntary reimbursement scheme for customers who lose money in an authorised payment scam. That may help inform any changes to the Code of Banking Practice which sets out current customer expectations for fraud reimbursement.”
“Scammers often use weblinks or hyperlinks in text messages to gain access to people’s bank accounts. To help reduce this kind of scam risk, banks have committed to removing links from texts to customers,” NZBA chief executive Roger Beaumont said.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (more…)
“When you think about how a scam plays out, the money leaving your bank account is the very last step in that process,” says Beaumont. “It might be a fake ad in social media that makes you click on a link that’s promoting something dubious. It might be a phone call from a scammer that is coming from an illegitimate source.”
One type of banking fraud the New Zealand Banking Association sees are money “mules” who, for a payment, let criminals transfer money overseas via their accounts, says chief executive Roger Beaumont. Some don’t understand it’s a crime.
Roger Beaumont, chief executive of the Banking Association, said it would “look at what’s happening around the world and then see how we can update the current practice set out in the code”. But “given the timeframe involved, and the focus on scams, this isn’t likely to be our usual code review process”.
“Payment scams, often called authorised push payments, trick you into voluntarily making a payment from your account. Invoice scams are a classic example, with scammers going through your email and then producing a fake invoice that looks legitimate.”