Bank customers are increasingly turning to generative AI tools to generate fake payslips and proof of income needed for business and mortgage applications.
Australian Bankers Association CEO and former finance minister Simon Birmingham said the wave of dodgy loan applications was a huge problem for the banking sector and it was only going to get worse.
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“Artificial intelligence is making it incredibly easy to create fake payslips and falsified payslips,” he told a Senate committee hearing into Australia’s productivity levels this week.
Birmingham and the Big Four banks are now requesting access to the ATO’s income data so they can check the details of their income for themselves.
“The single best defense against fake income documents is real income data, and the ATO already has that,” Mr Birmingham added.
talk to Yahoo FinanceBirmingham elaborated on his claims against the ATO data.
“The most effective way to address the risk of fraudulent loan applications is a single source of truth for income data,” he said.
“Secure, consent-based access to income information held by the ATO will provide lenders with a central point of truth they can rely on, significantly improving the integrity of their lending decisions.”
However, the changes are not as simple as obtaining ATO permission. The government will need to revise the tax administration law. The recent budget allocated millions of dollars to build infrastructure to explore “open banking” reforms to enable data sharing.
Banks hope to make this change sooner as a large number of risky loans have been discovered. Reports last month revealed that there may be around $4 billion in fraudulent mortgage loans used to buy homes in Australia.
birmingham said Yahoo Finance Government funding and research are welcome, but they need to happen quickly.
“The Bank welcomes the Government’s commitment to considering access permissions and recognizes that significant consideration is required, but we hope these processes can move forward as quickly as possible.”
“Secure access to ATO data is not just a fraud prevention measure, but also a productivity measure that can simplify loan applications for consumers and provide a faster and more accurate approval process.”
According to the report, the government is currently in the process of registering dodgy or fraudulent mortgage brokers who have conducted transactions related to illegal activities. air force Last month’s report.
The government has also introduced new compliance rules to tighten funding verification for property industry workers.
Mr Birmingham added: “Both the extension of anti-money laundering obligations and access to the ATO’s income verification could make a meaningful difference in reducing loan fraud and criminal activity.”
