Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has introduced new measures to help protect customers from scams associated with making certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges.
CBA said it would decline or hold certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges for 24 hours.
The bank said it would also introduce $10,000 limits in a calendar month where the bank could identify the customer payments were to exchanges for cryptocurrency purchases.
“Consumer interest in cryptocurrencies has been increasing and unfortunately scammers globally are capitalising on this trend and masquerading as legitimate investment opportunities or diverting funds into cryptocurrency exchanges,” CBA general manager of group fraud management services James Roberts said.
“With the incidences of scams increasing and in many cases customers suffering significant losses from being scammed, the introduction of 24 hour holds, declines and limits on outbound payments to cryptocurrency exchanges will help reduce both the number of scams and the amount of money lost by customers.”
Roberts said CBA would continue to closely monitor the impacts of the scam response measures.
“Customers who make payments to cryptocurrency exchanges are currently facing a significantly higher risk of potentially being scammed,” Roberts said.
“While these measures will not eliminate the risk of customers suffering losses as a result of a scam that involves a payment to a cryptocurrency exchange, they are part of a range of initiatives designed to help customers reduce their risk of falling victim to a scam.”
Other banks jump on board
Both Westpac and NAB have also blocked certain cryptocurrency payments to fight back against scammers.
Westpac executive of customer services and technology Scott Collary estimated the new security measures could save customers millions of dollars.
“Digital exchanges have a legitimate role to play in the financial ecosystem. But, since the rise of digital currency, we’ve noticed that scammers are increasingly using overseas exchanges,” Collary said.
“Often our customers only discover they’ve been scammed after the money has left the country, making recovery extremely difficult.
“The trial of our new security measures will better protect customers from scams. In particular, it will target investment scams, which have a devastating impact on our customers.”
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