Be Scam Aware! Take a moment and think.... click here for helpful hints in protecting your accounts online.

Learn more about our brand name, abal banking.

In the market for a home loan? Learn more about our award winning home loan products by clicking here.

We're a bank for the community. Learn more about our community initiatives by clicking here. 

There has been an increase in reports across financial institutions, regarding highly sophisticated cybercriminals utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) to commit identity fraud. This rapidly evolving threat has resulted in significant financial losses, accompanied by severe anxiety and inconvenience for affected individuals.

AI technology allows scammers to automate, scale, and refine identity theft, creating synthetic profiles and highly convincing clones to bypass traditional security checks. 

How AI-Enabled Identity Fraud Works

  1. Data Harvesting: A malicious actor obtains fragments of an account holder's personal details (such as names, dates of birth, or addresses) leaked from corporate data breaches.
  2. Deepfake Generation: Using advanced AI software, criminals use public video, stolen identity documents, or recorded audio snippets of an individual to generate highly realistic voice clones or deepfake video avatars. 
  3. Synthetic Identity Creation: Scammers combine real, stolen information with AI-generated fake data to build complete "synthetic" identities, which are then used to open fraudulent online bank accounts or apply for lines of credit.
  4. The Bank Impersonation Trap: The scammer calls the account holder using a cloned voice of a relative or a spoofed official number, manipulating them into believing a family emergency or a banking crisis is occurring.
  5. Account Exploitation: Once trust is established, the scammer may coerce the victim into providing a Verification Code or One-Time Password (OTP), allowing unauthorised funds transfers to "money mule" accounts before detection occurs.

Arab Bank Australia Will Never

  1. Solicit personal documentation, passwords, or full credit card details over an inbound phone call or text message.
  2. Ask you to disclose or read back a verification code or One-Time Password (OTP) received on your mobile device.
  3. Instruct you to move your funds to a "safe" or "temporary" external account due to a security breach.

What You Can Do to Protect Yourself

  1. Never Disclose Security Codes: Do not share a verification code or OTP sent to you with anyone, under any circumstances.
  2. Be Sceptical of Inbound Urgency: If you receive a call claiming to be from ABAL or an emergency service demanding immediate payment, hang up. Call the organisation back using an official, trusted number listed on their website.
  3. Scam Calls: Be vigilant of any suspicious phone calls. If you don’t recognise the number or company they claim to be from, do not engage and hang up immediately.
  4. Monitor Your Financial Activity: Monitor your financial activity for suspicious transactions and report them as soon as possible.

For callers in Australia: 1800 139 241

For callers outside of Australia: +61 2 9959 7530