The banking industry has asked the government to support a New Zealand Anti-Scam Centre, as part of a response to recent ministerial requests on scam prevention.
In a letter to commerce and consumer affairs minister Andrew Bayly, New Zealand Banking Association chief executive
Roger Beaumont asked the government to consider leading scam prevention in New Zealand.
“Banks are often at the end of a chain of events that leads to criminals stealing money from New Zealanders. Scams may
start when people are deceived by fake websites, emails, texts, social media ads, and phone calls. To truly strengthen
New Zealand’s scam defences, everyone in the ecosystem needs to step up – and that includes government, telcos, social
media companies, and search engines. Banks can’t protect New Zealanders on their own.
“Banks have got the ball rolling with the Anti-Scam Centre by targeting mule bank accounts, which are used by criminals
to move stolen money. To take the centre to the next level, we’re initially asking the government for operational
support by involving the police and other relevant agencies.
“We’re also asking the government to help remove any regulatory barriers to the Anti-Scam Centre working effectively,
and to set scam prevention expectations for other industries.
The NZBA response also addressed other points raised by Minister Bayly, including scam prevention measures, which NZBA announced last September.
“We’ve also agreed to review international best practice for reimbursing customers who lose money in authorised payment
scams. On the back of that, we’ll look at updating the current reimbursement approach set out in the Code of Banking
Practice.”
Letter to Minister Bayly attached.