CommBank and Telstra combine to battle identity theft

Editorial

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The new Fraud Indicator technology developed by Quantium Telstra in collaboration with CommBank enables intelligence about unusual mobile service usage to be shared securely to help detect identity theft. Fraud Indicator went live earlier this month and is expected to improve CommBank’s detection rate for fraudulently opened accounts by more than 25 per cent for joint CommBank and Telstra customers.

Sandy Cameron, CEO of Quantium Telstra, says: “Fraudsters show some distinctive behaviours and patterns when it comes to mobile phone usage. When this information is combined with an organisation’s own insights and analysis, Fraud Indicator becomes a powerful tool to prompt interventions, potentially disrupting fraud attempts earlier.

“As an example, a fraudster signing up for a new bank account provides a mobile number to receive passcodes and authenticate the account. By accessing insights on how this mobile service is used – which differs from normal behaviours – CommBank can better assess the risk that this is a bad actor and potentially stop fraudulent accounts from being opened.”

The launch of Fraud Indicator follows last year’s introduction of Scam Indicator, separate technology from Telstra that helps detect and intercept suspected scam calls in real-time. Commbank says Scam Indicator technology has helped protect customers from losing millions of dollars to scammers and since its initial launch has been expanded to cover landlines to help protect the most vulnerable customers.

While nationwide and cross-industry efforts to drive down the impact of fraud and scams is helping reduce the amount of scam losses reported in Australia (down 13.1 per cent from 2022 to 2023), the rate of identity theft continues to slowly rise hitting approximately 200,000 Australians in FY23.

James Roberts, general manager of group fraud at CommBank, comments: “We’ve reduced customer scam losses by more than 70 per cent over two years but more needs to be done, and we remain focused on continuing to help customers stay safe by improving early detection and prevention. These measures range from sharing behavioural and device-based intelligence with other banks in real-time, to collaborating across other industries – including with telcos like Telstra – to help makes Australia less attractive to scammers.