ANZ is enhancing its security capabilities with a new tool designed to detect mule accounts that are being used to receive funds from scam victims and other criminal activities.
This new tool builds upon the bank’s behavioral biometrics technology and utilizes AI and machine learning to identify potential money mules and suspicious accounts. Following a successful pilot program in April 2023 that uncovered nearly 1,400 high-risk accounts, ANZ plans to implement this mule detection technology throughout its security systems by September 2023. A dedicated mule detection team will support this effort, working alongside ANZ’s 440 customer protection specialists.
Shaq Johnson, ANZ’s head of customer protection, stated, “Stopping mule accounts is a critical component of scam prevention and disrupting sophisticated criminal enterprises. By identifying and blocking these accounts, we effectively deny criminals the resources necessary to conduct their operations. Disrupting the infrastructure that supports scams makes it increasingly difficult for online criminals to function and harms innocent individuals.”