NEWS
25 November 2024
How banking and tech giants can safeguard their customers as Australia enters a new era of fraud prevention
By Megan Searle, Product Owner, Altia
In September this year, the national government signalled its intent to further protect consumers from the impact of fraud, placing an onus on banks, telecoms, and tech giants to deliver stringent anti-scam measures. Backed by mandatory codes and increased transparency, those within the financial and tech sectors could face fines of up to $50 million if they are found to not adhere to the legislation.
The government’s ambition to allocate responsibility for protecting consumers against fraud comes at a time when the public has been hit with increasing scams. An 18.5 percent increase in 2023 saw 601,000 incidents recorded, costing victims an estimated $2.74 billion, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The move has already been backed by FinTech Australia, an industry body which represents over 420 fintech companies and startups across Australia. It means tech giants such as Google, TikTok, and Facebook will be held accountable for scams allowed to propagate on their platforms, with failure to meet obligations around scam prevention, detection, disruption, and reporting meaning they may not only face fines but may also be required to compensate victims.
The challenge of accountability
However, these changes have been met with resistance from tech companies, who have voiced concerns about the feasibility of fully controlling fraudulent content on their platforms.
As well as the heightened liability, banking and tech companies will also have to assess and adjust their risk management frameworks, which would require a sizable effort from some of the world’s largest organisations, not to mention the potential for increased insurance premiums, legal costs, and operational risks.
Firms will need to expand their monitoring practices and potentially collect more user data, which will need balancing with privacy regulations, and may create conflicts, particularly as public awareness and expectations around data privacy continue to grow. Meanwhile, organisations will need to place substantial investment in new tools, more extensive moderation, and compliance staff.
Additionally, companies will need to coordinate with banks and telecom providers under a shared liability, which could increase regulatory and reporting complexity. And beyond all of this is the risk that organisations who stumble on their journey to stem scams on their platforms could suffer reputational damage, with this legislation raising public expectations around their responsibility in preventing financial fraud.
How to drive proactive fraud prevention forward
In this regulatory landscape, where there is pressure to take a proactive approach against fraud, it has never been more important for major organisations to use innovative software which will help them conform to new rules, and crucially, safeguard their customers. At investigation and intelligence technology specialist, Altia, we aim to support businesses to do exactly that.
While the looming legislation may seem daunting, with organisations rightly considering what strain and cost the implementation of measures to conform to them will place on their operations, comprehensive investigative software tools can streamline the process, adding another level of security and efficiency to their processes.
Tools, such as Altia’s Financial Investigation Toolkit, support organisations in meeting new compliance standards. They offer robust analytics, streamlined investigative capabilities, and seamless data integration which enables users to detect, prevent, and respond to fraud in real-time. As a result, major organisations can take a proactive stance when it comes to incidents, rather than being on the back foot when one occurs.
Empowering investigators with actionable insights and interoperability
One of the major challenges in preventing fraud is the complexity and scale of swindles across different platforms, resulting in fraud teams having to digest an almost limitless amount of information from copious sources. But investigative software tools help users to rise to this with structured data analysis, integration, and case management capabilities.
With ability to consolidate data from diverse sources into a unified investigative platform, organisations are better equipped with actionable insights to identify patterns and trends in scam activities, many of which might otherwise go undetected. Meanwhile, the automation of routine investigative tasks not only reduces administrative burdens but also allows fraud teams to concentrate on critical analyses and decision-making.
Meanwhile, hardwiring interoperability into a software’s makeup further adds value too, allowing it to be integrated with existing security systems to enable it to reduce manual tasks and accelerate data sharing, while enabling investigators to access comprehensive insights. This interoperability is essential for meeting the new legal mandates efficiently, allowing teams to respond to threats more effectively.
Setting the standard in digital security
While the government’s new laws represent additional challenges in combatting scams, major organisations need not resign themselves to them. By using investigative software, they can streamline their fraud prevention efforts, using comprehensive data to drive their investigations’ forward with swift action and robust preventative measures. In doing so, they can set the standard for digital security for years to come and get ahead of the government’s laws.
As Australia’s organisations start to adapt to the upcoming regulatory changes, Altia, which holds IRAP PROTECTED status, is on hand to support them to meet compliance standards, empowering them with the tools they need to deliver a safer financial environment for consumers.
Megan Searle is a former fraud investigator and Product Owner at Altia, an Australia-based software business with offices in the UK, which creates intelligence and investigation software for law enforcement agencies, government departments and private sector businesses. Altia has been a specialist in this area for almost three decades, with offices also based in Glasgow.
