CBA launches new verification measures as scam complaints surge

While Pay ID – which works by linking someone’s bank account to easy-to-remember information such as a mobile number or email address – and PayTo are payment methods that Sullivan said can reduce the risk of scams, he said their take-up remained relatively low, lifting the need for measures such as NameCheck.

“I think it’s going to be a while before we see those two methods at really mass-scale across the industry,” he said. “BSB and account numbers will stick around for a while, and we want to make sure that we can keep our customers safe.”

‘We see every day, in our work with consumers and banks, the devastating impact scams can have on people.’

David Locke, Australian Financial Complaints Authority chief

CBA’s second initiative, called CallerCheck, allows staff to trigger a notification to a customer’s app to confirm a call being made by the bank. Customers can also verify their identify within the app, reducing the need to share personal information over the phone.

Sullivan said until now there had been “no easy way for a customer to verify if they were genuinely speaking to the bank”.

The new measures come amid fears that scams could cost the country $4 billion this year, up from an estimated $2 billion in 2022, following mass data breaches at Medibank Private and Optus.

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The Australian Financial Complaints Authority welcomed the announcement, citing the increase in the number of scam-related complaints it received.

In the 2021 to 2022 period, the ombudsman service received an average of 340 complaints in relation to scams every month, up 28 per cent on the previous year. In the current financial year, that figure surged to an average of 400 scam-related complaints a month.

The authority’s chief executive, David Locke, said both the volume and sums involved in scams were increasing, with some losing home deposits and retirement savings.

“We see every day, in our work with consumers and banks, the devastating impact scams can have on people,” he said. “We welcome any initiatives by banks to seek to protect their customers, including the innovative use of technology.”

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