Australians have been granted access to a digital platform, which will facilitate the reporting of fraudulent payments en route or transferred to another bank.

The Fraud Reporting Exchange offers more targeted communication to help banks stop and recover as much money as possible when customers have paid scammers. 

Seventeen banks have joined the platform, which is operated by the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange.

The Commonwealth Bank recently found 64 per cent of Australians believe they receive more scam attempts today than 12 months ago.

The same survey found Australians reported receiving, on average, five scam calls, emails or messages a week, equating to over 250 attempts a year.

Ms Bligh is the CEO at the Australian Banking Association, who said it is imperative that consumers report a fraudulent or scam payment to their bank as soon as possible.

“The sooner that banks know about a fraud, the sooner they can take swift action to try to halt the payment before it gets to the scammers.” 

It comes as global tech platforms seek to unlock a new era of smart payments, where users can bank using apps or cards connected to their phones.

“Whether it’s your Apple phone or smartwatch, the number of transactions has increased by 8,000 per cent in the last three-and-a-half years,” Ms Bligh said.

“Banks actually have contracts with Apple that facilitate that. But certainly banks would say very loudly and clearly, and I think customers should too, if Apple had a deposit product in Australia that should be subject to all of the protections that a customer would get if they deposited with a bank,” she said.