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The Money Desk · Blog
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What Happened in Westpac’s 2019 PayID Lookup Misuse?

Westpac confirmed misuse of PayID lookups in June 2019. The reported results were account names—not bank account numbers—and the incident highlighted the privacy risk of repeated lookups.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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Westpac confirmed in June 2019 that compromised Westpac Live accounts had been used to make PayID lookups at scale. The returned information was reportedly account-name data, not account numbers: Westpac said no customer bank account numbers were compromised. The incident showed how a feature meant to help people verify a payment recipient could also create a privacy risk when misused repeatedly.

What happened in the Westpac PayID incident?

On 4 June 2019, Westpac said it had detected PayID lookup “mis-use” and had taken additional preventative actions without shutting down the system. CIO reported that a confidential memo to the banking industry described seven compromised Westpac Live accounts being used for around 600,000 PayID lookups. The memo reportedly said about 98,000 lookups returned a short name to the person making them, and that the activity had occurred regularly since 7 April 2019. These figures were reported from the memo by contemporary media; the memo itself was not publicly available for independent review. CIO’s 4 June 2019 report and Computerworld’s report both covered the incident.

Westpac told CIO: “No customer bank account numbers were compromised as a result.” CIO reported that after the bank’s preventative action, Westpac said it had detected no further inappropriate activity. That statement does not establish that passwords, balances or transaction histories were exposed; the available reporting does not say they were.

What information did the lookups return?

PayID allows a person to use an identifier—such as a mobile number, email address or ABN—instead of entering a BSB and account number. When an identifier is registered as a PayID, a lookup can return the name associated with it so the payer can check the intended recipient before confirming a payment. Westpac’s current PayID name-display FAQ describes that confirmation step.

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The risk in 2019 was that repeated lookups reportedly turned this name-confirmation feature into a way to collect names at scale. NPP Australia told Computerworld at the time: “The only details obtained have been the account name which was designed to be returned to a legitimate enquiry.” It also said that financial details and credentials were not available from the PayID database. Those were statements made during the 2019 response, not an independent audit of the platform or its later controls.

Can someone see your name through PayID?

For Westpac personal customers, the bank currently says a personal PayID displays the customer’s first and last name. A payer can see the registered name before confirming a payment. The display rules and available controls can differ by bank, so Westpac’s guidance should not be assumed to apply to every PayID provider.

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Westpac says customers who do not want their name displayed can receive eligible fast Osko payments using their BSB and account number without setting up a PayID. Check Westpac’s current name-display information for eligibility and details.

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How to check a PayID payment safely

  • Before confirming, compare the displayed recipient name with the person or business you intend to pay.
  • If the name is unexpected or does not match, pause. Westpac advises contacting the payee using a trusted phone number to verify the payment details; do not rely on a number supplied in a suspicious message.
  • For a new payment to a BSB and account number, be aware that Westpac Verify is a separate bank-side check. Westpac announced it on 5 March 2023 for certain payments, including cases involving a possible account-name mismatch or an account the customer had not paid before. Its announcement said affected payments could be held for four hours for review. This later safeguard is not evidence of a specific technical fix to the 2019 lookup misuse. Westpac’s 2023 Verify announcement

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