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The new partnership will provide bank customers with verified, in-app calls directly from Westpac.
Big four Australian bank Westpac has announced a new initiative to fight financial scams that will allow calls from the bank to come not through a customer’s normal mobile phone line but directly via the Westpac app.
Working with telco Optus, Westpac will be rolling out SafeCall to its customers in “the coming months”.
Each call will show it has been verified by Optus and will also display the reason for the call. The service will be available to all Westpac customers, “regardless of who their telco provider is”.
Peter King, Westpac’s CEO, said SafeCall adds “an extra layer of protection as part of broader efforts to combat scams”.
“We’re continuing to invest in scam prevention and detection measures and are currently detecting 69 per cent of all scam cases,” King said in a statement.
Michael Venter, interim CEO at Optus, called SafeCall a world-leading initiative.
“Optus is proud to partner with Westpac to deliver this world-leading solution that will help keep customers safe from scammers and fraudsters,” Venter said.
Recent statistics from the National Anti-Scam Centre revealed that Australians lost more than $134 million to scams in the last six months. Sadly, pensioners remain the most likely group to fall victim to scams, with that cohort alone reporting $40 million in losses.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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