Don’t Let Your Personal Details and Data Fall into the Hands of an Impersonator
Have you ever been asked by a plausible sounding caller for personal information such as bank details? Received an email from what looks like a legitimate address asking you to confirm your address, age and passport number?
If the answer is ‘yes’, you may have been subject to an attempted impersonation scam.
An impersonation scam is where scammers pretend to be trusted businesses to steal your money or identity. Impersonation scammers will try to reach and deceive you through text message, websites, email and phone calls.
This National Scams Week (27 November – 1 December), Australian Payments Plus (AP+) is focused on impersonation scams.
“People need to be aware of, and remain vigilant against impersonation scams,” Chief Executive Officer of AP+, Lynn Kraus said.
“AP+ has developed a sophisticated suite of products that make life much more difficult for scammers who are looking for an opening to defraud people or steal their identity.
“Firstly, there is PayID. With Australians holding more than 18 million PayID accounts, and PayID accounting for one quarter of all Osko transactions, it’s a trusted brand that means you can transfer funds to the right person, at the right time.
“PayID means you can send money instantly to people and organisations you trust through in individual identifier such as a mobile number or email. That person or organisation’s name then appears in your list of payees, and you can send and receive money with confidence. You can pause and check you are paying the right person as well, instead of having to repeat a BSB and account number. In our research, one in four people using PayID reported they had paused or changed their payee details before hitting send.”
Ms Kraus said the recently launched ConnectID would cut down people’s exposure to fraud and identity theft.
“ConnectID is now available to Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and National Australia Bank (NAB) customers. It also has strong industry support with other strategic partners including Westpac and ANZ,” she said.
This new service will help customers reduce oversharing their data, giving them greater control over what data is being shared and used and choice over which organisations they trust to store their personal information – banks being the number one choice. And from a business perspective, the ability to collect only what is required means they’re able to comply with legislation and reduce their risk profile.
“What’s important to know is that ConnectID is not creating new honeypots of data, in fact, we never see or store customer data. At every step of the way, ConnectID ensures both convenience and confidence, quickly and securely verifying customer identities,” Ms Kraus said.
AP+ is also working with New Payments Platform participants on a new solution – Confirmation of Payee.
“Confirmation of Payee will help reduce certain types of scams that involve misdirection of payment to an account that does not belong to the intended payee as well as avoid mistaken payments to incorrect account numbers,” Ms Kraus said.
Work will continue into next year to get Confirmation of Payee up and running.
“We expect that a phased delivery approach could see existing Confirmation of Payee capability that exists today extended further during 2024, with a broad solution expected to be in place from early 2025.”
About Australian Payments Plus
Australian Payments Plus is the new organisation that brings together Australia’s three domestic payment organisations, BPAY Group, eftpos and NPP Australia into one entity. Australian Payments Plus which strives to deliver world-leading innovation, excellence in delivery, and customer experiences that delight and inspire us to build a better, stronger and more prosperous Australia.
AP+ shareholders include Adyen Australia Pty Limited, ANZ, ASL, Bank of Queensland Limited, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited , CBA, Citigroup Pty Limited, Coles Group Limited, Cuscal Limited, EFTEX Pty Limited, First Data Network Australia Limited trad ing as Fiserv, HSBC Bank Australia Limited, ING Bank (Australia) Limited, Indue Limited, Macquarie Bank Limited, NAB, PayPal, Suncor p Metway Limited, Tyro Payments Limited, WBC, Windcave Pty Limited, Wise Australia Pty Limited, Woolworths Group Limited and WorldPay.
See http://www.auspayplus.com.au for more information.
