Government and banks unite to combat online fraud
Government and banks unite to combat online fraud
As cases of online fraud continue to escalate rapidly in Australia and across the globe, the Australian Government is teaming up with the finance industry to crack down on cyber-criminals using bogus emails to defraud online banking and finance customers.
Specialist staff from Australia's major banks will be seconded to the Australian High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC) to help investigate cases of phishing, where online criminals use apparently legitimate emails to trick people into divulging passwords, credit card numbers and bank account details. The Government and the banking and finance sector will also explore ways to educate consumers about this practice.
Support for the Joint Banking and Finance Sector Investigation Team has also been provided by the Australian Bankers' Association (ABA), Mastercard, Visa International and the Credit Union Services Corporation Australia Limited (CUSCAL).
In addition, a National Response Plan to fight cyber crime will provide a mechanism for financial institutions to report phishing incidents to the AHTCC and the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) for analysis and investigation.
This will enable police to swiftly contact the public, banks, telecommunications companies and Internet service providers to issue alerts on the potential threat.
The Government is working on a multi-faceted approach to protect consumers and businesses from a broad and increasingly sophisticated range of illegal activity in this sector, including the introduction of new offences to cover credit and debit card skimming, whereby legitimate credit and debit card data is illicitly captured or copied, usually by electronic means. This offence will also cover Internet banking fraud, including phishing activity where that activity involves capturing personal financial information.
The Australian Crime Commission, in partnership with financial institutions, has established a National Card Skimming Database to identify organised crime groups committing card skimming crimes, while the Trusted Information Sharing Network (TISN), which includes Government and industry representation, has been established to improve critical infrastructure protection.
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