National Australia Bank (NAB) has successfully intervened in over $270 million in customer payments over the past four months. According to NAB News, the bank stops millions in transactions between March and July.
The NAB app recorded that customers stopped 12% of payments upon receiving real-time payment prompts, indicating they are pausing to reconsider before proceeding. This shows that customers are taking the time to reconsider before proceeding. The move indicates that customers are taking the time to think twice before proceeding with transactions.
NAB’s Executive for Group Investigations and Fraud, Chris Sheehan, mentioned the measures implemented by the bank in the last six months to combat scams are “having an impact to protect customers”
“Introducing payment prompts, taking action on spoofing, and stopping the use of links in unexpected text messages are among key measures we’ve introduced recently. We’re now also taking action to block some payments to high-risk cryptocurrency exchanges in a further effort to stop scammers,” Mr Sheehan said.
Australians Prefer Safety
“While many customers ultimately complete their payment after receiving a prompt, we’re seeing around $290,000 worth of payments abandoned daily. This tells us that customers are taking the time to stop and think before they make a payment.” NAB’s Executive added.
According to the bank’s research, 40% of Australians are “extremely willing” for payments to be slower as long as the delay was to protect them from bad actors.
Half the reported scam funds to the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange involved cryptocurrency.