New Security Feature to Save Businesses Millions in Scams

In a move to help reduce scam losses and make Australia a harder place for scammers to operate, Westpac is extending its payee verification solution to institutional and government clients.

Westpac's Verify will soon be available on its leading payables platform, PaymentsPlus.

Westpac Verify for PaymentsPlus will enable businesses to run a check on payee details before initiating payments, alerting them to potential account number and name mismatches.

This will help businesses and government agencies better identify fake invoice or payment redirection scams. It will also help put a stop to mistaken payments. Westpac launched Verify for retail and small business customers in April this year which has already saved over $50m in scams and mistaken payments.

Westpac Chief Executive, Institutional Bank, Nell Hutton says the new feature will enhance the accuracy of payments for large businesses and government clients, with the potential to save them millions, as well as create operational efficiency when setting up or changing payee details in their accounts payable systems.

"International scammers target Australian businesses and government agencies that make large payments and often pay multiple invoices in batches. When scammers manage to steal funds from these organisations, the damages are significant and can have knock on impacts for their customers and suppliers," Ms Hutton said.

"We know businesses are increasingly improving their security measures to ensure they're operating safely, including through tightening payments processes. Westpac Verify for PaymentsPlus will help our clients ensure they're paying the right recipients, reducing the risk of errors and scam payments."

Westpac has been putting the final touches on Verify for PaymentsPlus, before the capability is intended to be made available in late September 2024. Batch verifications, and API connectivity via PaymentsPlus, are scheduled to be added in the next quarter.

Over the past two years, Westpac has broadly, across its business, saved customers over $400 million from being lost to scammers and has invested more than $100 million in new detection and prevention measures, including initiatives delivered as part of the Scam Safe Accord. Current measures available to Westpac customers include:

• Westpac SaferPay - presents customers with a series of questions in instances where a payment is considered a high risk of being a scam.
• Westpac Verify - alerts individual customers and small businesses when there is a potential account name mismatch when they're adding a new payee using a BSB and account number.
• Dynamic CVC - changes the three-digit code on the back of the digital card every 24-hours.
• Cryptocurrency blocks - for payments to certain digital currency exchanges.
• Merchant blocks - for payments to businesses deemed high-risk of being a scam (e.g. offering fake or misleading products and services).
• Call spoofing measures - added 94,000 Westpac numbers to the 'Do Not Originate' list preventing scammers from impersonating the bank's phone numbers.
• Inbound payment detection - monitoring on payments coming into the bank to check for potential scam indicators, with funds held where a scam is detected.
• Sophisticated detection technology - advanced behavioural tool helping combat remote access scams.
• Westpac SafeCall - Announced recently and coming soon, Westpac SafeCall provides customers with calls via the app that are Westpac branded, verified by Optus and show a reason for the call.

From September:

Westpac Verify for PaymentsPlus - provides businesses and government agencies with the ability to verify payee account name mismatches using a BSB and account number.