Prevention of identity fraud is top of mind for members of the Fraud Taskforce, a body convened by the Australian Bankers Association late last year in response to escalating levels of card and electronic banking crime.
The ABA Taskforce was formed in December following a spate of counterfeit card crime at ATMs across Sydney. The body, which includes representatives from police, banks, and card schemes, says it will develop voluntary industry standards on security and fraud prevention for all banking transactions, both online and offline. The standards will cover interface requirements, authentication and verification processes, and source document validation.
The Taskforce is also proposing an analytical study of identity documents to examine the use, exchange and compilation of documents required for the validation of a customer’s identity, particularly when opening an account. The study may lead to recommendations for legislative change or the introduction of new processes and technology to verify a customer’s identity. It will also examine whether documents used to validate identity need any extra security measures.
A third project is aimed at creating a package to educate consumers about simple fraud prevention measures.
David Bell, chairman of the Fraud Taskforce and CEO of the Australian Bankers’ Association, says: "The prevention of identity fraud will be this year’s main focus of the Taskforce because this complex crime is seen as an emerging threat, not just for banks, but for other corporations and the entire community."