Commonwealth Bank introduces measures to combat cryptocurrency scams

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has announced a raft of measures to fight cryptocurrency fraud and scams.

The measures came into effect on 8 June, with more controls to come within months.

The bank will now either hold for 24 hours or decline outright “certain payments” to cryptocurrency exchanges. The next step to be introduced is a $10,000 limit per month on transactions where the bank detects cryptocurrency may be involved.

“Consumer interest in cryptocurrencies has been increasing, and unfortunately, scammers globally are capitalising on this trend and masquerading as legitimate investment opportunities or diverting funds into cryptocurrency exchanges,” said James Roberts, Commonwealth Bank general manager of group fraud management services.

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“With the incidences of scams increasing and, in many cases, customers suffering significant losses from being scammed, the introduction of 24-hour holds, declines and limits on outbound payments to cryptocurrency exchanges will help reduce both the number of scams and the amount of money lost by customers.”

However, the Australian Financial Review reports that the CBA has placed an outright ban on trading with a number of exchanges, with Binance — based in Dubai — among them.

The move comes days after Binance and another exchange, Coinbase, found themselves the target of legal action from US authorities. Binance lost its ability to make PayID transactions last month; at the same time, Westpac banned its customers from transacting with the exchange.

Last month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed suit against Binance for possible evasion of US laws, and this month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued the exchange for violating US securities rules.

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.