This move comes as part of an overall effort to protect consumers.
Financial crime hotspots will now be subject to a more "stringent and user-focused onboarding experience," according to Binance Australia's latest Economic, Social, and Governance (ESG) report (for the quarter ending June), published on August 29. There is no question that Binance Australia is taking measures to streamline its processes.
The Chief Executive Officer of Binance Australia, Leigh Travers, and a member of the Financial Crime, Risk, and Compliance team at the exchange, Zachary Lu, have both stated that the company has been actively looking for methods to safeguard "sensitive consumers," and that this endeavor starts with the onboarding process. According to Lu, the elderly, people who live in remote regions, and people who have impairments are the broad groups of people that Binance has recognized as potentially susceptible consumers. He highlighted that such findings were the product of collaboration with a number of government and academic institutions concentrating on financial crime.
The two individuals emphasized that the company is paying a heightened level of attention to investment scams. These cons are perpetrated by con artists who promise victims of the scam exorbitant rates of return on their investments in an effort to coerce the victims into sending over their financial information.
Scams of this type have been responsible for the loss of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin to Australians. A recent analysis conducted by Scamwatch suggests that $25 million was lost in the first half of 2021 due to fraudulent investment schemes.
The company just recently launched a know-your-customer (KYC) focused quiz that gives them the ability to recognize any potentially questionable behavior. This allows them to evaluate the depth of a new user's crypto expertise and determine whether or not they have been influenced by a bad actor to sign up under false pretenses.
Travers added to his argument by suggesting that a substantial number of "weak" consumers fell prey to scams within the "first seven days" after being onboarded. This statement was made in reference to the period of time immediately following the onboarding process.
Beginning September 1, Binance Australia will undertake more stringent identity procedures as part of the process of onboarding new customers. As a direct result of this, the company will no longer permit new customers to upload their driver's license photos after they have registered; rather, it will ask new customers to provide a photo of their driver's license along with its number when they register for the service.
This will be deployed to enable Binance to rapidly evaluate the legitimacy of ID papers as part of the onboarding process, detect vulnerable individuals, and assist in indicating whether someone is signing up
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