Embedding fraud intelligence into the digital banking experience will enable you to protect your customers more effectively.

Introduction

Are you confident your institution is doing all that it can to stop bad actors separating customers from their hard-earned funds?

There’s no doubt the Australian banking industry has made heartening progress on this front in recent times.

Published in March 2025, the National Anti-Scam Centre’s most recent report showed reported scam losses had fallen by 25.9 per cent to $2 billion in 2024.

The drop reflects the collective efforts of government, industry, law enforcement and community organisations to reduce the devastating impact of scams on Australian businesses and consumers.

The federal Treasury’s establishment of a Scam Prevention Framework outlining providers’ obligations to take preventative measures and share intelligence – and compensate customers when they’ve fallen short and losses have been incurred as a result – has also been an effective spur.

Accounts Under Attack

Meanwhile, poor password hygiene and leaked credentials continue to provide fuel for account takeover attacks, with impersonation tactics and spoofed devices very often thrown into the mix.

They’re making it possible for fraudsters to gain access to legitimate accounts and siphon off funds faster than account holders and institutions can detect and respond to the incursions.

Money mule accounts are making banks’ job even harder and there are plenty of them – recent research by Feedzai revealed seven per cent of users would be willing to move suspicious funds if compensated.

Attacks of this nature undermine customer trust and can jeopardise a bank’s reputation for responsible stewardship of the funds entrusted to its keeping.

Using Old Tools to Fight Emerging Threats

And legacy fraud processes and programs are ill equipped to deal with them. Built on static rules and point-in-time checks, the latter offer inadequate protection against the dynamic threats the digital era continues to throw up.

Very often, that inadequacy is magnified by siloed systems which don’t allow institutions to create what might be best termed a cohesive ‘risk story’.

This means that, considered in isolation, various events and acts may not necessarily seem suspicious. When they’re looked at as a body of evidence, however, it can be a very different story. Simultaneous examination of everything from timing and device ID, through to keystrokes and transaction behaviour, can allow banks to flag potentially fraudulent activity, even as it’s occurring, rather than after the fact.

Harnessing the Power of AI to Stop Bad Actors In Their Tracks

That’s where AI has a powerful part to play. It can be harnessed to enable large-scale,

real-time analysis of a myriad of signals – and to respond to them virtually instantaneously, to minimise losses and protect customers.

It’s the foundation for behavioural biometrics – the continuous analysis of users’ interactions with their devices, including the manner in which they type, swipe and navigate sites and services. A pause when entering new data, for example, or hesitancy before making a payment on an active call are potential signs an unknown or unauthorised person is attempting to transact on an account.

Even subtle deviations can be suspicious and, when coupled with AI-powered device intelligence and threat analytics – details about the device being used and data on known threats – they can enable institutions to form an extraordinarily granular picture of suspects and suspicious activity.

Protecting Customers At Every Stage of the Journey

Implement engagement banking technology that has this sophisticated fraud intelligence at its core and you’ll be able to detect account takeovers and flag scam attempts at every customer touchpoint.

And you’ll be able to do so without sacrificing usability or impacting the seamless service you’ve worked hard to develop.

Rather, you’ll have intelligent, adaptive fraud defences operating silently in the background, scanning thousands of user signals, comparing them to expected patterns in real time and empowering your institution to act decisively – and without disrupting the customer experience – should unusual or suspicious activity be identified.

Setting Your Customers Up for a Safer Banking Experience

With more than 99 per cent of transactions in Australia now taking place digitally, according to the Australian Banking Association, shielding customers from scams and fraud and providing a safe online experience is paramount. Institutions that fail to do so will find themselves punished financially and reputationally, as regulators continue to bear down and consumers and businesses take their accounts elsewhere.

Against that backdrop, implementing engagement banking technology with robust, next generation fraud prevention measures, including behavioural biometrics, device intelligence and real time threat analysis, baked in is likely to prove a very smart move.