The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Telstra have announced the rollout of a new behavioural and pattern detection technology expected to cut instances of account opening fraud by up to a quarter.

‘Fraud Indicator’, which went live earlier this month, is designed to uncover instances of identity fraud – specifically, using behavioural and pattern recognition technologies to detect whether accounts have been fraudulently opened using the details of CommBank and Telstra customers.

“Fraudsters show some distinctive behaviours and patterns when it comes to mobile phone usage. When this information is combined with an organisation’s own insights and analysis, Fraud Indicator becomes a powerful tool to prompt interventions, potentially disrupting fraud attempts earlier,” said Sandy Cameron, chief executive of Quantium Telstra, the telco’s AI and data science development arm, jointly overseen by Australian data and analytics firm Quantium.

For instance, the technology can track data on typical mobile service usage by customers, leveraging this data to determine whether someone may be using the same mobile number to create a fraudulent account.

“As an example, a fraudster signing up for a new bank account provides a mobile number to receive passcodes and authenticate the account. By accessing insights on how this mobile service is used – which differs from normal behaviours – CommBank can better assess the risk that this is a bad actor and potentially stop fraudulent accounts from being opened,” Cameron said.

He added: “The commercial impact of fraud and scams on Australian enterprises is alarming, and the full cost goes well beyond the money lost – including labour, legal and recovery costs.

“By detecting more fraud and reducing false positives, Fraud Indicator could have a significant positive impact on the cost of doing business in Australia and play a significant role in the fight against fraud and scams.”

The technology is expected to improve CommBank’s detection rate for fraudulently opened accounts by more than 25 per cent for joint CommBank and Telstra customers.

The launch of the new anti-fraud capability comes as both Telstra Quantium and CommBank extend their existing anti-scam and fraud collaboration.

It also follows the CBA-Telstra Quantium co-developed Scam Indicator, launched in 2023, designed to detect and intercept suspected scam calls in real time.

CommBank general manager of group fraud James Roberts said that while the bank has successfully reduced customer scam losses by more than 70 per cent over two years, “more needs to be done”.

“[We] remain focused on continuing to help customers stay safe by improving early detection and prevention.

“These measures range from sharing behavioural and device-based intelligence with other banks in real-time, to collaborating across other industries – including with telcos like Telstra – to help makes Australia less attractive to scammers.”