Making allies in your fraud fight

There is a critical yet often untapped ally in your fight against banking fraud: your customers. After all, who is in a better position than the accountholder to identify a fraudulent breach? And who’s more motivated to quickly it shut down—or better yet, work with you to prevent fraud in the first place?

I’ve blogged previously on smart anti-fraud practices that center on customer communication. Of course, anyone who works in a financial institution knows it can be a real challenge to empower consumers to protect themselves against fraud scams. We’re all inundated with a variety of communication stimuli that spans voice, print and email. Most consumers struggle with how to differentiate what’s legitimate from what’s fraudulent. That’s because fraudsters have become quite adept at mimicking the structure and tone of bank communications, imparting a sense that their message is confidential, time-sensitive and critical to the consumer’s sense of safety. How do you think phishing scams have remained a viable criminal enterprise for over ten years? 

While we cannot entirely eliminate the risk of financial crime, we CAN reduce the number of victims and incidents through better consumer communication and education. In that vein, I created a fact sheet with tips for consumers to:

• Monitor account balances more closely.
• Treat phone calls and texts with caution.
• Practice ATM safety.
• Effectively communicate with their financial institution.

I encourage you to post this fact sheet on your websites or share it with your customers however you see fit. What’s most important is to spread the word and help your customers play an active role in the fight against fraud.