A new banking system will help thousands of Australians save an estimated $120 million (US$89.3 million) annually by stopping scam transactions from fraudulent overseas sellers. Westpac, one of the “big four” banks in Australia, has announced on April 11 that it has begun automatically blocking suspicious online transactions from international retailers with high risks of scams. When a scam is detected, the bank will block the transaction and inform the customer of the intervention through text messages. However, customers can contact the bank to proceed with the transaction if they believe it is legitimate. Westpac said that when the bank trialled the real-time system in 2021, 99 percent of the customers did not go ahead with the purchase when receiving the scam alert. In the initial trial, which focused on online diet pill sellers with dubious marketing claims, the bank blocked 11,000 potential scams and helped 4,000 customers save more …