Major bank reveals 'kill switch' to help Aussies 'protect their money'
ANZ is launching a new tactic to protect customers against scammers. The Digital Padlock has been likened to a "kill switch" and will allow users to lock down their account if they think they're being scammed.
Think of it like blocking a misplaced or stolen card but for your whole account. Traditionally, if a scammer has gained access, there aren't many tricks to stop them from transferring your money away.
"The more tools customers have at their fingertips to protect their money, the better," ANZ Group Executive Australia Retail, Maile Carnegie said.
91-year-old Aussie loses $130,000 after receiving this brazen phone call
Centrelink change to see thousands more Aussies eligible for age pension
Coles, Woolworths trick to get $100 off grocery bill every month: 'Beat them at their own game'
If a customer suspects there is suspicious activity on their account, they can log in, press a few buttons, and all payments will be stopped.
Digital Padlock will also block credit and debit cards and notify the ANZ fraud monitoring system Falcon of suspicious activity.
No one will be able to change details or send money to far-away places until the threat has passed.The ANZ customer support team will restore full banking services for the customer once they can be certain that the threat has passed.
If your account is locked down, essential payments like mortgages or direct debits, will still be processed.
Digital Padlock will be available on ANZ App, ANZ Plus and Internet Banking when it rolls out in the middle of this year.
'ANZ Digital Padlock takes just a few clicks so it will give our customers direct, real-time control over the security of their own accounts," Carnegie said.
"It will provide some extra peace of mind for customers, knowing that they can act quickly if they think they are at risk of being compromised and protect them from common scams currently targeting Australians, including phishing and impersonation scams.'
Scammers are constantly evolving their tactics to siphon off your hard-earned money.
While many people don't realise they have been scammed when the heist is taking place, you might be lucky enough to catch them in the heat of the moment.
The kill switch is the answer to that problem.
The concept was introduced in Singapore by local bank OCBC in 2022 after it lost $16.2 million in a series of phishing scams.
It only took a few months before the Singaporean government mandated that all banks introduce a kill switch option.
There were close to 100,000 phishing scams in Australia last year, according to the ACCC's National Anti-Scam Centre.
ANZ is also launching a First Responders team to protect customers who do end up getting scammed.
Normally, people would have to go through the fraud division, however, they will now deal with a new department.
'This team of specialists are experts in supporting our customers who suspect they've fallen victim to a fraud or scam,' Carnegie said.
'Joining our Scams Assist and existing expert Customer Protection teams, ANZ First Responders will work closely with our customers and our internal teams when time is of the essence,' she said.
Following a successful 2024 pilot, the ANZ First Responders team is now supported by 65 people and is expected to grow over the next 12 months.Sign in to access your portfolio
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
India's external investment deficit a hurdle for rupee as Asia rides weak dollar's coattails
By Jaspreet Kalra and Nimesh Vora MUMBAI (Reuters) -The rupee is likely to lag most of its Asian peers in a softer dollar environment, analysts say, with the Indian currency weighed down by an imbalance between what the country owes and owns abroad. While currencies such as the Singapore dollar, Korean won and Taiwan dollar have surged 6% to 9.5% this year, the rupee is nearly flat. Analysts at Barclays, Jefferies, and ANZ attribute the divergence to differences in the net international investment positions (NIIP) with Asian economies. NIIP is the gap between what a country owns overseas and what it owes to the rest of the world. As of December 2024, India had a negative NIIP, owing about $350 billion more to the world than it owned in foreign assets. In contrast, most other Asian countries hold a positive NIIP, meaning their ownership of foreign assets exceeds their external liabilities. Unlike Taiwan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong, the absence of a positive NIIP for India implies underperformance of the rupee, said Mitul Kotecha, head of FX and EM macro strategy, Asia, at Barclays. A positive NIIP usually stems from consistent trade surpluses, with excess earnings often invested in U.S. assets. When the dollar softens, the value of those assets drops. To protect against that, investors hedge by selling dollars and buying their own currencies, which tends to boost the local units. According to Barclays, Singapore, Taiwan and China and Korea hold the most liquid net international assets in Asia, while India and Indonesia hold the least. India's international investment position implies that the rupee "may lag the rest of Asia," said Brad Bechtel, head of global FX at Jefferies. "It's not like a very negative story. It's just more of a lagging story," Bechtel said. The NIIP positions of Asian countries have come into focus amid investors seeking safety due to a persistently weaker dollar. Analysts and option markets concur that the dollar hasn't likely bottomed yet. Minutes of the Federal Reserve's May meeting cited a rise in hedging demand as one of the factors contributing to the dollar's decline. International investment surpluses in many Asian markets could boost their respective currencies, per analysts at BMI, a Fitch group company. "This would come as overseas capital is repatriated or as firms move to hedge previously unhedged FX exposure," the firm said in a recent note, pointing to the sharp appreciation in the Taiwanese dollar as an example.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Company's play for Coles, Woolworths, Aldi sparks warning for millions: 'Very concerned'
Afterpay is keen on getting into the Australian supermarket sector now that buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) services are more regulated. Under the revised law, these platforms have to follow the same rules and practices as credit card companies and lenders. Afterpay's co-founder Nick Molnar believes this update will give Woolworths, Coles and Aldi the confidence to accept BNPL as payment. But UNSW finance expert Andrew Grant told Yahoo Finance allowing shoppers to pay for their everyday shopping in instalments could be a slippery slope. "It is very easy to get in a hole if you are frequently buying things outside your budget," he said. "When it comes to groceries, am I going to spend more at the supermarket if you're offering Afterpay? That's something to be a little bit worried about." Afterpay, Klarna, Zip warning for Aussie users as major BNPL overhaul arrives Rare $1 coin worth 10 times more due to 'unfortunate' detail Woolworths shopper reveals little-known price tag trick Afterpay is already accepted at certain IGA and Drakes supermarkets. Grant said the majority of BNPL users keep on top of their repayments without a hassle. However, Domenique Meyrick, co-CEO of Financial Counselling Australia, believed a line needs to be drawn in the sand to prevent people from going into unnecessary debt. "We're very concerned about the possibility of these products being used in supermarkets," she told Yahoo Finance. 'Using credit to make ends meet is often a recipe for disaster — BNPL providers and retailers should not encourage people to do so." She added that financial counsellors have seen many people struggle to manage their finances because they're juggling multiple "unaffordable" BNPL loans and late these services have been used for big purchases, with shoppers more comfortable spreading out a $1,000 TV over four instalments. However, the cost-of-living crisis has pushed some into using BNPL to pay for much smaller items because they don't have the money to cover bare essentials. Before today, Aussies who wanted to use a BNPL service faced little opposition. They only had to fill in a few details before the cash advance was in their accounts. However, now providers will assess your ability to repay this money before approving your request. They will follow the same rules as credit card companies and lenders by looking at your income, expenses, and existing debts. BNPL platforms will also forward your payment history, whether it's good or bad, to credit reporting firms, which could harm your ability to get a credit card, personal loan, or mortgage in the future. Molnar believes having this type of regulation means BNPL services will be viewed more legitimately by the big supermarkets. 'Some of the biggest industries in [Australia] have been holding out to offer Afterpay until a date that we are regulated. We are now starting to scale into more everyday spend," he told the Australian Financial Review. Coles and Aldi told Yahoo Finance they had no plans to introduce Afterpay as a payment option in the future. Woolworths was a slightly vaguer, with a spokesperson telling us they had nothing to add. Grant told Yahoo Finance while the answer might be no right now, he believed they would consider it if they could negotiate with Afterpay the cost of acceptance. At the moment, it costs the merchant 2 to 8 per cent to take a BNPL payment, which is far higher than the 0.5 to 2 per cent they pay to accept debit and credit cards. The UNSW finance associate professor also highlighted that supermarkets might be be reticent in jumping on BNPL services because they could take a "reputational hit" if they're seen to be inadvertently plunging shoppers into debt. While these big supermarket giants don't technically allow people to pay with BNPL services, there is a loophole used by many. You can buy a Coles, Woolies, or Aldi gift card on several BNPL platforms and then use that card to purchase your groceries. Compare Club found nearly 31 per cent of Aussies surveyed had been using BNPL for essentials like groceries and fuel. However, the biggest proportion of users (66.67 per cent) reserved it for everyday non-essential items like clothing and gifts. Nearly a quarter of respondents to Compare Club's survey said they owed between $1,000 to $5,000 to a BNPL service. A further 20 per cent of users admitted to paying late fees every few in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Aussie workers facing brutal trend when applying for jobs: 'Frustrating'
Millions of Aussie workers say they have been 'ghosted' by a prospective employer after applying for a role. A workplace expert is warning bosses the practice could have major impacts, as job applicants are left feeling frustrated and "in the dark". Melbourne man Yosi Sisaye was recently ghosted by a prospective employer. The 21-year-old university student told Yahoo Finance he had gone in for an interview and a three-hour trial shift at a hospitality chain, only to hear nothing afterwards. 'It was a little bit frustrating because I felt like I put a lot of effort into the interview and the actual shift, some common courtesy of saying that I didn't get the role would have been nice,' the Bachelor of Commerce student said. RELATED Hidden reason Aussie workers are struggling to find a job: 'Breaking point' Rare $1 coin worth 10 times more due to 'unfortunate' detail Woolworths shopper reveals little-known price tag trick: 'Really clever' Sisaye said the manager had told him he would be contacted and told whether or not he got the job. But he received no further communication from them and admitted he didn't follow it up himself. 'I understand that it takes up some time, but I feel like the applicants are putting in so much effort to be professional within their resume and follow certain etiquette, you would expect that same kind of effort to be reciprocated,' he said. Sisaye said it was his first experience being ghosted by an employer. He blamed the trend on businesses being 'inundated' with applicants in the current tight jobs market. In hindsight, Sisaye said he should have followed up with the company himself following the trial shift. He has since gained a different retail nine in 10 Aussie workers say they have been ghosted by a prospective employer, new data from job site Indeed found. That's equivalent to 12.5 million workers. For one in six, it has happened so often that they said they rarely hear back at all. Indeed career expert Sally McKibbin said workplace ghosting wasn't necessarily a new trend, but we now had a name for it thanks to the dating equivalent. 'There can be multiple factors when ghosting occurs,' she told Yahoo Finance. 'It can be down to things like they've shifted what they need and maybe that role has been put on hold, or potentially they are interviewing and trialing other people and they haven't come back to you, or a line manager has disappeared and the recruiter doesn't have any feedback for you in that moment.' McKibbin said the high volume of applications for jobs, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors, could be exacerbating ghosting. "The job market has softened in comparison to a year or so ago, but the unemployment rate is still sitting quite low at 4.1 per cent," she said. "But there's still 48 per cent more jobs on Indeed than there were during pre-pandemic times, which sat quite consistently." McKibbin warned businesses ghosting could have a negative impact on their reputation and brand. 'A simple follow-up to let the candidate know that they were unsuccessful really goes a long way,' she said. 'We all want to know where we stand in this process, but for your brand, if you're a consumer brand as well, think about the impact that has on that person telling somebody else, and somebody else.' McKibbin called out the Circle Back Initiative, which was launched during the pandemic and is dedicated to ensuring job candidates receive a response to applications and aren't ghosted throughout the process. Other workers have taken the matter into their own hands, with Australian software engineer Ricjohn Genoguin developing the website to call out companies who have ghosted applicants after being ghosted himself several times. McKibbin has called on employers to do better and not leave workers 'in the dark'. 'I really hope that with more technology, it frees up the time for recruiters and managers to have much better human interaction and businesses to have far clearer processes on how to get back to job seekers through that process,' she said. 'It really does impact the brand and how people feel towards them, but also that person's confidence as well, which is never nice.'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
