Australian Bank WestPac Blocks Payment to Crypto Exchanges

As part of the strategies to crack down on scammers, Australia’s oldest bank WestPac has plans to block payment to leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and other top crypto service providers in the region.

This major blow to the digital asset ecosystem came after the Australian oldest bank discovered that half of all its scam losses were contributed by investment scams. 

Also, the WestPac data showed that a third of the scam payments were transferred directly to cryptocurrency exchanges. Therefore, a phased trial of the investor protection block would be launched in the coming weeks.

WestPac Plans To Secure Investors’ Dollars

Scott Collary, the Group Executive of Customer Services and Technology at WestPac believes that the trial of this security measure will safeguard millions of dollars which belongs to investors. He is positive that the devastating effect of investment scams will be curbed gradually.

“Digital exchanges have a legitimate role to play in the financial ecosystem. But since the rise of digital currency, we’ve noticed that scammers are increasingly using overseas exchanges,” Collary said, “Often our customers only discover they’ve been scammed after the money has left the country, making recovery extremely difficult.”

WestPac Explore Several Scam Prevention Measures

In the past, WestPac had tried to curb such scams with the use of various tools. WestPac Verify is a typical example of such tools that was launched earlier this year.

It alerts customers any time there is a possible account name mismatch for payment to a new BSB and account number. It also alerts users when money is sent to an account that has never transacted with WestPac before. 

Customers are also given access to a Digital Card on the WestPac App which helps them to perform transactions safely with the use of a dynamic 3-digit code which changes intermittently.  WestPac has also explored the use of sophisticated detection technology, scam blocks and the suspension of spoofing calls.

Binance Search For Alternative Source for AUD Payments

This restriction on crypto exchanges has resulted to Binance Australia announcing that Australian dollar PayID deposits had been blocked. Therefore, the global leading exchange is on the lookout for alternative sources that would handle its customers Australian dollar payments and withdrawals.

Meanwhile, Binance has recently halted its operation in Canada due to regulatory concerns.