Westpac has introduced a new scams prevention measure that takes customers through a series of questions designed to prompt further scrutiny of new payees before payments are authorised.
The bank will deploy the service, SaferPay, where there are indications that a payment has high scam risk. If customer responses suggest the payment is likely to be a scam, the bank will not allow it to proceed.
Westpac chief executive Peter King said in a statement that SaferPay uses artificial intelligence and is integrated into the bank’s wider fraud detection system. The AI technology has been designed to make the questions relevant to individual customers and to adapt the questions over time, as the system develops.
SaferPay is part of a move to introduce “useful friction” into payments, adding more checking where red flags are raised.
It is being deployed for payments made through the bank’s mobile banking app initially, and will be extended to online banking in the next few months.