NAB has told customers it can close bank accounts that send abusive messages. (Source: AAP) <\/p>\n
NAB<\/a> is warning Aussies that their bank accounts can be shut down<\/a> if they are found to be sending abusive payment messages. Banks are blocking hundreds of thousands of abusive messages<\/a> from being sent, with a consistent spike in the vile messages in December.<\/p>\n NAB<\/a> said it blocked more than 3,900 abusive transactions between December 16 and 22 last year, which was 18 per cent higher than the weekly average. Since 2022, the bank has stopped more than 580,000 abusive messages from being sent.<\/p>\n The abusive messages will appear in the payment description<\/a> and people will typically make small transfers of less than $1 to former or current partners. Perpetrators will often do this where they have been blocked from other communication channels, like over the phone or social media.<\/p>\n RELATED<\/p>\n NAB customer services executive Jocelyn Turner said messages blocked by the bank included threats, profanities or harassing language intended to intimidate or control customers.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one should have to receive harmful or abusive messages disguised as a bank transfer. It\u2019s cruel, and we\u2019re stopping it,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe holiday season should be about connection, not control. If someone misuses our systems, we\u2019ll act quickly to shut it down.\u201d<\/p>\n NAB automatically blocks<\/a> more than 1,300 offensive words and phrases, with the list continually updated. The system also recognises special characters and spaces that have been substituted in banned words and phrases.<\/p>\n Other banks have also introduced similar policies to protect customers from financial abuse.<\/p>\n Commonwealth Bank said it had blocked more than one million abusive transactions since it uncovered the trend in 2019. It uses an AI model that reviews transactions, reviewing more than 1,500 cases per year.<\/p>\n Major banks Westpac and ANZ have also introduced blocking controls and technology to detect abusive transactions in recent years.<\/p>\n Thriving Communities Australia CEO Ciara Sterling said family and gender-based violence was a \u201cnational crisis\u201d impacting every community that needed to be addressed every day.<\/p>\n \u201cSadly, the festive season often brings an increase in family violence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Sterling added that collaboration was needed across industries, systems and communities to create meaningful change.<\/p>\n 1800RESPECT is Australia’s domestic, family and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NAB has told customers it can close bank accounts that send abusive messages. (Source: AAP) NAB is warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[195970,64,63,78812,99,5630,195971,206],"class_list":["post-358562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-abusive-messages","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bank-accounts","tag-business","tag-nab","tag-payment-description","tag-transactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}