Nov 20 (Reuters) - Major Australian banks have partnered with BioCatch in launching a pilot of an anti-scam project, aimed at reducing frauds in banking payments, the Israeli digital fraud detection startup said on Wednesday.

BioCatch Trust™ Australia, a pilot of the world's first inter-bank, behavior- and device-based, fraud and scams intelligence-sharing network, would be used to scrutinize whether the customers of Commonwealth Bank of Australia

, National Australia Bank , ANZ Group Holdings

, Westpac , and Suncorp Bank are real or frauds.

Founded in 2011, BioCatch is a digital fraud detection startup which helps lenders in tracking their users' online activity to check their veracity as the banks' customers.

BioCatch Trust™ would assess the possible risk related with the bank accounts to which customers direct their domestic online payments within the BioCatch network.

If any risk is identified by the network, BioCatch would provide real-time intelligence to the sending bank, enabling transaction review before the money leaves the sender's account.

Australia, just like any other country, has bore the brunt of continued scam and fraudulent activities, which swindled its citizens over the past few years.

Losses incurred by Australians to scams tripled to A$2.7 billion ($1.76 billion) in 2023 from 2020, as the pandemic sent more people online.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has laid out its intention to introduce a law by 2024-end, which would force internet companies to proactively stop hosting scams, or face hefty fines.

In July, ACCC said it had consulted internet, banking and telecommunications firms about creating a mandatory, enforceable anti-scam code which legally requires them to take steps to protect users, including offering a complaint service.

NAB, the nation's second-largest lender, has been working with Tel-Aviv-based BioCatch since early 2022, utilising its biometric technology in the bank's internet banking services, among others.

($1 = 1.5314 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

((Rajasik.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com;))