Although online banking services accounted for just 0.4 per cent of the 6,782 complaints handled by the Australian Banking Industry Ombudsman (AIBO), but local two horror stories revealed by the Ombudsman, Colin Neave, demonstrate the manner in which the Internet can exacerbate risks involved with existing bank services.
A case study titled Unauthorised Internet Transactions demonstrated the ABIO's approach to delayed reporting of credit card transactions and the dangers of pre-approved credit limit increases. It also outlines the story of a woman who discovered how the advent of online banking services places an added burden on consumers to be hyper-vigilant about their account statements, regardless of whether or not they've even heard of the Internet.
Forced to return from an overseas holiday for hospitalisation after having an unfortunate accident, she found herself liable for four "unauthorised" online purchases totalling AU$7,058. The bank--unnamed by the report-- was satisfied with the woman's complaint that she was unschooled in the ways of the Internet, did not own a computer and couldn't have conducted the nefarious examples of e-commerce herself. However, applying terms and conditions attached to the credit card account, the bank held her liable for debt incurred up to the card's AU$5,000 credit limit on the grounds that she had failed to notify the bank within 120 days.
Of the handful of Internet related enquiries that were registered by the ABIO in the past 12 months, more than half related to credit card usage, compared to approximately one-quarter across all complaint categories.
In another case, a gambling addict used the Internet to withdraw AU$100,000 from a mortgage account that his wife believed had been repaid and closed, and required her counter-authority for access. In error, the bank failed to close the account and sent a letter to the man stating that the account was in credit. Arguably, the risks involved in attempting to carry out the transaction would have been greater without the canopy of anonymity provided by the Internet.
"We wanted to highlight these cases because they're instructive for the future," said Neave.
