CBA to decline or hold for 24 hours certain payments to crypto exchanges
Commonwealth Bank today introduced new measures to help protect customers from scam risks associated with making certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges.
From today, CBA will decline or hold for 24 hours certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges. In coming months the Bank will also introduce $10,000 limits in a calendar month where the Bank can identify the customer payments are to exchanges for cryptocurrency purchases.
James Roberts, Commonwealth Bank General Manager of Group Fraud Management Services, said: “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.”
“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.”
CBA will continue to closely monitor the impacts of these scam response measures, which will be subject to ongoing review.
The new measures follow the announcement CBA will be offering its NameCheck anti-fraud technology to external organisations that process payments in Australia as part of a broad national approach to help combat scams and frauds across the community.
NameCheck uses advanced technology and available payment data to give an indication of whether the account details entered look right, helping customers to ensure money is being sent to the right account. It is currently available to customers on the CommBank App, NetBank and business customers on CommBiz.
To help take personal action against scams, CBA suggests customers take three steps: Stop, Check, Reject – including specific guidance regarding potential investment scams.