Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the number of people who have fallen victim to a scam has decreased slightly during the past three years, to about 2.5 per cent of the population - about 514,000 people.
“This innovation is the first of its kind in Australia and will add important friction to payments deemed to have high scam risk,” Westpac chief executive Peter King said. The bank’s chief executive said while prevention measures had led to a “considerable drop” in customer losses during the past year, fraudsters were still taking millions of dollars from customers each month.
In December 2023 a man was charged in Sydney for allegedly sending 17 million fake text messages, allegedly phishing for money as a fake road toll collector and Australia Post representative. Picture: NCA NewsWire via NSW Police