A new report from behavioural biometrics company BioCatch has revealed the tangible success of Australia’s real-time financial crime intelligence-sharing network, detecting over $60million in attempted fraud in just three months.
The findings, detailed in the 2025 Digital Banking Fraud Trends in Australia report, showcase the effectiveness of the BioCatch Trust™ Australia network. Launched a year ago, the network now protects more than 85 per cent of the nation’s banked population. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, it analysed over 180 million payments totaling more than $330billion.
Stopping scams before funds leave
A key highlight of the report is the network’s ability to intercept social engineering scams. BioCatch revealed that when its network successfully matches a beneficiary’s account profile, its signals now detect more than 70 per cent of social engineering scam payments before any funds leave the sender’s account.
“In better than 70% of those transactions, BioCatch Trust reliably retrieved the beneficiary’s account profile, assessing the end-to-end payment risk before any money left the sender’s account,” said Tim Dalgleish, BioCatch SVP of Emerging Solutions and Network.
This preventative capability is particularly relevant for the UK, where Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud remains a significant challenge. Recent data shows APP fraud losses in the UK rose by 12 per cent to £257.5million in the first half of 2025, highlighting the urgent need for more effective, proactive detection mechanisms.
A decline in money laundering
Beyond scam detection, the report also highlights a 20 per cent decline in money laundering activity among BioCatch’s Australian customers. Furthermore, investment scam attempts targeting individuals aged 36 and younger have dropped by 30 per cent.
However, the threat landscape remains dynamic. The report notes a 47 per cent increase in account takeover attempts over the last year, with incidents more than doubling in the last six months. This surge is attributed largely to coordinated attacks from organised criminal groups operating out of Southeast Asia.
“Southeast Asia is home to a vast network of scam compounds, which serve as the launchpads for much of the online fraud targeting Australians,” explained Emerald Sage, principal intelligence advisor at OSINT Combine. “These compounds are not fringe criminal enclaves but entrenched infrastructures that exploit governance gaps… Their integration with Chinese organised crime syndicates ensures these compounds are not isolated enterprises but nodes in a wider criminal economy.”
The report also features commentary from Toby Evans, head of economic crime at the Australian Payments Network, who advocates for a new principle in payment system architecture: “Safety by Design.”
“The digital payments landscape continues to evolve, from AI-driven e-commerce to cross-border links between fast payment systems,” said Evans. “Each advance brings new opportunities, but also new risks. By embedding safety into systems from the start, payments can remain innovative, secure, and resilient without forcing consumers to shoulder risk.”
Since its launch, the BioCatch Trust network has expanded, with two additional financial institutions, including Macquarie Bank, joining the initiative. The success of this collaborative, intelligence-led model offers a compelling case study for other markets, including the UK, looking to turn the tide on financial crime.