Scammers target newest banking system for moving cash

Banking customers were the target of a recent attack by scammers to steal their information on the nation’s new payments system.

Have you got a PayID? Whenever I ask this question

I usually get a blank stare and then this response: “What’s a PayID?”

Well, it’s really handy and means you can do away with BSB and account numbers.

I registered for a PayID as soon as my bank allowed me to last year, but the trouble is few people seem to know what on earth it is.

For those who are in the dark, a PayID allows Australian banking customers to simply transfer money by just knowing a person’s mobile number, email address, ABN or organisation name.

All you have to do is set up a PayID via your online banking login and Bob’s your uncle. Link it up to your mobile number or email address, for example, and then you can share this with people when they owe you cash.

When you go to pay in your internet or phone banking you just click on the PayID tab.

PayIDs were rolled out at the start of 2018 as part of the New Payments Platform (NPP), but about 18 months on only 3.5 million Australians have registered for one.

And just 10 per cent of transactions made nationally are done using a PayID.

One of the biggest problems was not all banks jumped on the NPP at the same time.

Instead, it has been a staggered rollout and some banks are yet to join.

This loses the interest of people if it’s not all done in one fell swoop.

Disaster struck recently when scammers successfully got their grubby mitts on the personal information of more than 90,000 Australians across dozens of institutions, relating to their PayIDs.

Customers can move money to others using a PayID linked to their account.

Queensland-based credit union CUA was to blame for the breach that sent the NPP into a spin and all banking boffins into a state of panic.

During the breach, scammers managed to access customers’ PayIDs and their linked personal information, including their phone numbers, customer names, BSB and account numbers.

It’s certainly not what the NPP or banks needed, particularly at a time when customers are wary enough of their financial institutions already.

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While no money has yet been reported as being lost through the scam, customers affected by the data breach have been put on high alert.

It’s another reason why technology is often frowned upon by the older generations.

But what the NPP has done, which has been brilliant, is speed up our ability to get cash. Previously we had to wait days to receive money from someone else after making an electronic transfer.

It was a pain in the bum, to say the least.

But the NPP has allowed transactions to be made in real time, allowing many of us to get our cash on the spot. Hopefully more Australians will sign up to the PayID system and this recent disaster won’t be repeated.

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@sophieelsworth