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Commonwealth Bank has said it has identified a “shocking” number of instances of customers using its online banking services as a method to harass and abuse others.
In just three months, more than 100,000 customers had transactions automatically blocked through platforms such as NetBank due to insults and threats being hurled, some potentially connected to instances of domestic violence, along with the usually few cents that were being transferred.
“Frankly, we had never contemplated that people were using bank payments as a sort of a carrier service to deliver either profanities or threatening abuse,” said CBA chief executive officer Matt Comyn.
CommBank is unlikely to be the only bank to be affected by the issue, but it’s the only one to have looked into it and provided data on the extent of the problem.
Abuse via NetBank, banking apps
Last year, a bank employee discovered that some transactions done on its online banking systems included abuse in the description field.
Whereas the vast majority of customers use the description field to explain what the transaction is, such as paying someone back, others used this field to send messages to cruelly target the payee.
The amounts transferred were often for less than $1 suggesting the abuse rather than the payment was the primary reason for the transaction.
In one instance, the bank saw 900 abusive messages in a two hour period from one customer.
The bank found out that some people who were blocked from sending messages to someone they had targeted on Facebook were instead using NetBank or the CBA app to send the offensives comments for as little as one cent each.
Initially, CBA found 8000 customers had received abusive messages. However, after putting in place a list of around 70 words that would automatically be blocked, it found the issue was far more insidious.
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At the House of Representatives standing committee on economics last week, deputy chief executive David Cohen revealed that in the three month period between the end of October 2020 and the end of January 2021, 162,000 transactions had been flagged for using abusive terms.
“Of those 162,000, the sender received a message saying that the transaction was blocked because of an offensive term used in the description field,” Mr Cohen told MPs.
“The fact that we have had 160,000 attempts to send abuse to people is shocking.
“From the bank’s perspective, in the context of domestic and family violence, it is an area where we have spent significant funding, time and energy, because it is an issue that we think needs to be addressed urgently.”
Mr Cohen said the sender could then attempt to send the transaction again. Of those attempts, 115,000 were subsequently blocked because the description field, once more, contained abuse.
“So that is really alarming. That is 115,000 in three months,” said Mr Cohen.
Bank’s massive challenge
CommBank could not reveal how many customers it had either kicked off its online banking platforms or barred from the bank altogether.
“The challenge is that there is a risk of people being unbanked (sic). So we have to balance up the harm that is caused through attempts to send abusive messages, and the harm that is caused when people cannot access banking facilities,” said Mr Cohen.
“The difficulty that we face is that, broadly speaking, most of the abuse that we see is not illegal.
“At the moment there is no legislative basis, no regulatory basis, for a description that calls somebody a derogatory name.”
However, the bank said it had been in touch with NSW Police to alert the force to the issue and to seek guidance.
“We have had very open discussions with the police about how to identify those very dangerous, abusive messages that do represent imminent harm, and bring those to the attention of the police.”
Also talking to MPs, CEO Mr Comyn said cracking down on abuse and domestic violence was a “huge priority”.
“There is not a constraint from a profit perspective. The point is what more can be done?”
Domestic violence program
Cracking down on the ability for people to harass others through their IT systems is one part of CommBank’s family violence initiative, launched last July, called “Next Chapter”.
The bank has set up a dedicated team that will offer advice, including direct financial assistance in some cases, to customers who are suffering from domestic violence.
There will also be a service, in partnership with the Good Shepherd family violence program that will offer free access to specialised financial coaching and solutions to anyone impacted by domestic abuse no matter who they bank with. The aim is to help people become financially independent.
At the program’s launch, Mr Comyn said research commissioned by the bank found 25 per cent of Australians had experienced some kind of financial abuse.
“Financial abuse is one of the most powerful ways to keep someone trapped in a domestic and family violence situation, causing victims and survivors serious financial stress both during the situation and for some time after they leave.
“It’s a hidden epidemic in our country, that has directly affected one in four Australian adults, and we want to change that,” he said.
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