Australian banks launch digital platform to help halt payments to scammers

CANBERRA: Australia's banks have joined forces to launch a new tool to prevent fraudulent transactions.

The Australian Banking Association (ABA), whose membership includes 20 of the country's biggest banks, announced the new Fraud Reporting Exchange (FRX) platform on Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The new real-time reporting tool will allow banks to quickly report fraudulent payments to stop customers from losing money to scams.

Bank transfers are the most common payment method for scams and the ABA said that FRX would boost the likelihood that funds can be frozen and returned to their customers.

It will also enable banks to share intelligence to assist with loss prevention and streamline the return of funds.

A trial of FRX found that the amount of time to resolve scam cases dropped by more than half.

According to data published in April, Australians lost A$3.1 billion to scams in 2022.