News

As the majority of the 2018 direct debits have been received and loaded by the ADF, we recommend that you now review all your direct debits via ADF Online to ensure there are no duplications. Reviewing your debits will ensure that none have been duplicated, which would result in parents being debited twice for payments.

If you locate any duplications, please email directdebits@bne.catholic.net.au with the details of the authority to be cancelled, including the A# number.

Any questions, please contact the ADF on 3324 3777.

The ADF wishes to advise all customers to beware of an invoice email scam that is currently targeting Queensland businesses.

This scam involves scammers pretending to be legitimate suppliers advising changes to payment arrangements or bank account details held on file. The scammer will send an email which is disguised to appear almost identical to the legitimate suppliers’ email advising updated account information and potentially requesting payment.

How the scam works

This is quite a sophisticated scam where the scammers work very hard to make you believe the account details and payment requests are legitimate.

– Scammers hack into supplier email accounts and obtain information including customer lists, bank details and previous invoices.
– Your school or parish is then sent an email which appears as though it is from a known supplier requesting a change to the usual payment details and may also include a request for payment.
– The scammers either disguise the email address they are sending the email from or they have created a new address that appears almost identical to the legitimate one, this is called ‘spoofing’. Spoofed emails can be quite difficult to detect. For example the legitimate address is bob.smith@abctrading.com.au and the spoofed address could be bob.smith@abctrading.com or bob.smith@acbtrading.com.au
– The scam email will also often contain a copy of the suppliers logo, use the same message format and style and in some cases may even include an attachment on company letterhead which they obtained as part of their hack. It may even contain links to websites that are convincing fakes of the suppliers real website.

How to protect your school or parish

There are a number of steps that your business can take to protect yourself from scams of this nature.
1. Ensure your staff are aware of this scam and understand how it works so they can identify it, avoid it and report it.
2. Double check email addresses, if you look closely you should be able to spot a fake.
3. Have a clearly defined process for verifying and payment accounts and invoices which tracks goods/services received and reconcile this to invoices.
4. If you think an email you have received is suspicious, DO NOT reply. You should call the company on contact details that you already have on file or ones you have found in the phone directory, not the ones provided in the email.
5. If the account details provided on the invoice or payment request are different from those used previously, call the company to confirm.

More details on this scam can be found at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/news/invoice-email-scam-now-targeting-australian-businesses

If you are concerned that you may have been a victim of this or any other scam, please contact the ADF immediately.

Cheque usage and acceptance in Australia has dramatically reduced over a number of years due to faster, more user friendly and secure payment methods being available.

As part of the ADF’s payment technology strategy, we are actively encouraging the closure of cheque facilities and promoting alternative payment methods including EFT, BPAY and Corporate cards. Whilst we have not set a timeframe for the closure of all cheque accounts, our Relationship Managers will begin talking to their customers regarding alternative payment options available to them and the closure of their cheque accounts over the coming months. We will continue to work with our customers to ensure that they have the best payment methods available to meet their needs.

If you would like to discuss your cheque account or alternative payment methods, please contact your Relationship Manager or the ADF.

The ADF office is relocating from 194 Charlotte St, Brisbane to Cathedral House, Level 6, 229 Elizabeth St, Brisbane from 25 September, 2017.

This will mean a more centralised location for our Archdiocesan Departments at Cathedral House.
We endeavour to have our operations and calls to be business as usual on Monday 26th September but please be patient while we settle in and we look forward to you popping in and visiting us!

For many years, the ADF has facilitated the establishment of CBA Corporate Cards for our customers. We also provide ongoing support for the facilities that we have assisted in establishing.

Last week, the ADF, in conjunction with the CBA, launched our new co-branded Corporate Card.

The new card design sees the ADF logo displayed prominently on the Corporate Card for the first time whilst ensuring no other feature of the card has been impacted. This new layout has been designed to ensure the ADF and the assistance we can provide remains front of mind when customers use their Corporate Card.

All new and renewal cards will now be issued with this new design. Please note that current Corporate Cards will not be impacted by this change and you can continue to use your card as per normal. There is no additional cost for the new look card and we encourage you to continue to contact the ADF if you have any card related queries.

What’s new?

• Account screen now displays the full transaction history, getting you more quickly to the information you are looking for.
• Enhanced transaction search functionality is available from the Account screen, including free text search for descriptions, receipt numbers, and cheque withdrawal numbers.
• BPAY displays more meaningful descriptions when searching for billers

Experiencing issues?

• If you are having any issues with ADF after the recent upgrade you may need to clear your browser cache. You can clear the cache for this site by pressing Ctrl-F5 to refresh the page now before logging in. If refreshing the page does not resolve the issue you are experiencing, then please contact the ADF for further assistance.

We have been made aware of an issue with a number of corporate card statements not being generated.

CBA have advised that the statements that were due to be issued mid-August failed, resulting in the summary page being issued but no individual statements being generated. If you have not yet received your individual card statements, you may be impacted by this issue.

We are waiting on further updates from the CBA regarding this issue, however if you require access to your transactions for the month urgently, please contact us and we will enable access to Smart Data Online which will give you access to view all your transactions.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this issue has caused and we will provide additional updates as available.

The Indian Rupee is a closed currency which means that travellers cannot bring Rupees into or out of India. As a result of this, the ADF is unable to purchase Indian Rupees for you to take with you when you are travelling to India, although you can take AUD and other currencies with you. Please note you may be required to declare the cash you are carrying when entering India, refer to the Customs Declaration form for further information.

The acceptance of credit and debit cards in India has significantly increased over the past 3 – 5 years so a large number of purchases can now be made without cash. However, if you do require cash, there are a number of different ways you can purchase Rupees when you arrive in India. These include exchanging AUD or other currency at a bank, at an approved foreign exchange provider and withdrawing Rupees at an ATM. It is recommended that whilst travelling you have multiple access methods to your funds including debit cards, credit cards, cash and/or travel cards, please ensure you notify the ADF if you will be using your Corporate card whilst in India.

The ADF strongly recommends visiting smartraveller.gov.au whenever you are planning an overseas trip for a listing of other countries which have a closed currency and additional key travel advisory information.

If you use the CBA Quick Cash bags to deposit cash or cheques into your ADF account, please ensure that you contact the ADF when you need to replenish your bag stock.

If you request the bags from the CBA branch, the branch are required to charge you a fee per bag. If you order your bags through the ADF, there is no fee applied as a result of the National Pricing arrangement the ADF has with the Commonwealth Bank.

If you don’t currently use Quick Cash bags and would like some information on the benefits of using these, please contact the ADF.

Credit card fraud and scams are becoming increasingly common in this digital age. With ‘card-not-present’ fraud accounting for 80% of all Australian card fraud, it’s a good idea to make sure you know what to do should something go wrong.

ADF Recommendations

We recommend that all card customers keep a close track of your card activity and keep all records of payments made to ensure you are always across any unexpected changes.

The ADF’s Corporate Card partner, CBA, has advanced security and fraud detection systems in place that pick up any abnormal transactions or spend patterns. If they notice something unusual on your card you may receive a phone call from one of their fraud team, or even an automated telephone/SMS alert. This may result in a temporary block on your card while they are in the process of contacting you for verification.

What should you do if you suspect you have been a victim of credit card fraud

If you notice a purchase on your statement that you didn’t make, or a payment you didn’t authorise, the first thing to do is report it immediately. You can report this to the ADF or the CBA, who will place a stop on your card and the claim process commenced so that your funds can be reimbursed.*

Here are some contact details to remember:

• If you suspect fraud or have a dispute on your card please notify us immediately on 07 3324 3777.
• If outside working hours, call the CBA immediately on 13 22 21 (24/7) or visit any branch.
• If you are overseas and have an urgent card security issue, make a reverse-charges phone call to +61 2 9999 3283.

* You are 100% covered against fraudulent transactions if you comply with the Conditions of Use. There is also a time frame of 90 days, outside of which the CBA may not be able to request a refund from the merchant.

Tell your colleagues

One of the best ways of minimising the impact of scammers is to talk about it, so everyone knows what to do should it also happen to them.

Always feel free to contact the ADF for any queries with your CBA corporate card.

If you’re interested in viewing your transactions any time over the internet please contact us to discuss.

For further information also see our Corporate Cards FAQs area here.