Insurance and Care NSW (iCare) has sought to bolster its payment security, having cautioned that invoice manipulation poses a “real threat” to businesses across Australia.
The state-run insurer has inked a deal with payment protection business Eftsure, it said in a press release on Thursday. The deal comes after payment redirection scams burned a $227 million hole in Australians’ pockets in 2021.
“Invoice manipulation by malicious agents and scammers is a real threat to businesses small and large,” said Dr Nick Allsop, group executive of icare Lifetime Schemes. “According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, in 2021, payment redirection scams cost Australians $227 million.
“We take seriously our responsibility to identify errors, fraud and scam attempts before releasing funds.”
Eftsure tools will be used to minimise the risk of payment fraud, to onboard new vendors, and to manage the “accuracy” of vendors’ banking and compliance data, iCare said in the press release.
“We’re pleased that icare has joined the Eftsure community, which protects more than $120 billion in payments each year,” said Mark Chazan, Eftsure CEO. “The recent report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed an uptick in payment redirection scams and tactics like phishing, so it’s important for organisations to protect themselves and their suppliers.”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released its data on scams last July, finding that business email compromise – also known as payment redirection scams – were the “most damaging” scams to Aussie businesses in 2021. The $227 million cost represented a 77% increase on 2020.
Typically, scammers will impersonate a business or its employees and make a payment request via email, asking for the sums involved to be redirected into a fraudulent account.
“We would like to see overseas initiatives such as confirmation of payee implemented in Australia, where banks automatically check to see if account name and account numbers match,” ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said at the time of the data’s release. “We believe it may reduce the losses to scams that we are seeing.”
