Westpac has banned customers from transferring funds to a number of crypto exchanges money as part of a wider series of measures designed to tackle cryptocurrency-related scam losses.

Crypto exchange Binance is reportedly one of the exchanges to be impacted.

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Westpac data shows investment scams account for approximately half of all scam losses. It says that one third of all scam payments are transferred directly to a cryptocurrency exchange.

Westpac Group Executive, Customer Services and Technology, Scott Collary, estimates the new security measures could save customers millions of dollars.

“Digital exchanges have a legitimate role to play in the financial ecosystem. But since the rise of digital currency, we’ve noticed that scammers are increasingly using overseas exchanges,” said Collary.

“Often our customers only discover they’ve been scammed after the money has left the country, making recovery extremely difficult.

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Westpac fraud teams detect over 60% of attempted scams

“The trial of our new security measures will better protect customers from scams. In particular, it will target investment scams, which have a devastating impact on our customers.”

A phased trial of the new protection blocks will be rolled out over the coming weeks.

Currently, Westpac’s scam and fraud teams detect over 60% of attempted scams.

The new measures follow other recent scam initiatives. This includes Westpac Verify. The service alerts customers if there is a potential account name mismatch for some payments to a new BSB and account number. It also engages when money is sent to an account Westpac has never transacted with before.