Westpac has announced new scam support and prevention measures, warning customers to be extra careful after a recent spike in activity. 

The company found that reported scams have increased 33 per cent in July from the year prior. Aside from this, it was also found that scammers have become increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect. 

“We’ve seen a significant increase in cases where scammers are using software to mask their phone number with the number of a known business. This is a commonly employed tactic in impersonation scams known as ‘call spoofing’,” Westpac Head of Fraud Ben Young said. 

“These scams are incredibly challenging to detect because, from the customer’s perspective, they appear to be getting a call from Westpac, when in fact, it’s a scammer posing as a member of our fraud team calling from a completely different number.” 

Following the new data, Westpac worked with Optus to become the first private Australian business to block calls from scammers impersonating the bank.  

Over 94,000 Westpac phone numbers have now been added to a ‘Do Not Originate’ list, preventing scammers from impersonating Westpac numbers.  

Westpac’s ‘Do Not Originate’ list has also been shared with other carriers to extend the protection across different networks. 

“It’s not only banks scammers are impersonating. We are seeing a variety of cases where scammers appear to be calling from telco or energy providers, online retailers, government organisations, or even pretending to be family members,” Mr Young said. 

“To combat these scams, we’re working with Optus and other telco partners to apply blocks that will now stop scammers from being able to use call spoofing software and impersonate calls using Westpac’s number.” 

Related: Scam Calls Code successfully blocks over 200 million calls

Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Government, Enterprise and Business at Optus Stuart Pritchard said that the company was pleased to work closely with Westpac in protecting their customers from scam calls. 

“We welcome Westpac’s decision to engage Optus, who together with the wider telco industry are taking steps to address the ever-changing threat landscape and keep more customers safe from falling victim to these terrible crimes,” he said. 

Aside from blocking scam calls, Westpac is also taking additional steps such as increasing scam specialists and launching new digital chat capabilities to support their customers in the next months.  

“We want customers to know that support is available if they need it. If you think you may have been scammed, it’s important you contact your bank immediately. The sooner you act, the better chance we have at reducing the impact of that scam,” Mr Young said. 

Source: Westpac media release. Content has been edited for style and length.

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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