Westpac inks safe-call deal with Optus

Westpac has signed a deal with Optus which will see the bank’s customers take calls through their banking app in a bid to defeat scammers.

Optus interim CEO Michael Venter and Westpac CEO Peter King

Westpac and Optus have signed a deal which will see the bank’s customers take calls through their banking app, in a bid to defeat scammers posing as staff.

The deal will see Optus verifying calls placed through Westpac’s app and show a reason for the call, with plans to roll out the functionality in coming months.

The moves comes as the latest step by Westpac to defeat scammers and after the bank moved to apply a blacklist to 94,000 numbers used by the bank which scammers had been attempting to spoof.

Westpac said its deal with Optus would help give its customers “more certainty in the legitimacy of the call”, amid concerns about the danger of impersonation scams which can cost customers huge sums.

Optus interim CEO Michael Venter said the telco was able to offer Westpac access to the Vonage “market-leading technology” to clearly identify callers.

Vonage is provided through global telco provider Ericsson.

“This is a great example of how Optus is leveraging its network capabilities and digital solutions to create value for our partners and their customers,” Mr Venter said.

Westpac chief executive Peter King said the bank wanted customers to “know they are really talking to their bank”.

“We’re continuing to invest in scam prevention and detection measures and are currently detecting 69 per cent of all scam cases,” he said.

“Westpac SafeCall will help us reduce bank impersonation scams and make Australia an even harder target for scammers.”

Mr King said the Westpac SafeCall scheme was part of the bank’s “ongoing investment in digital banking”, coming as the latest anti-scam measure taken by the bank.

The bank has invested more than $100m in new detection and prevention measures.

Westpac has also introduced security features to slow high-risk cash payments by using AI functionality, as well as placing blocks on transactions with risky cryptocurrency platforms.

The bank is also offering verification of customer transactions and monitoring of inbound payments to the bank to check for potential scam indicators.

Westpac said its anti-scam measures had seen customers save $400m from being lost over the past two years.

But, the broader banking sector is facing demands to do more to stop financial crime.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones is expected to give an update on the government’s fight against scams and fraud on Wednesday in an address to the National Press Club.