Credit Unions

The credit union industry must constantly react to new threats as criminals become more creative and efficient in their use of technology to commit financial fraud at credit unions.

Exposure to fraud includes counterfeit currency, counterfeit money orders, forged or altered cashiers checks, and identity fraud involving synthetic, forged or stolen identities. Virtually every transaction that occurs at a credit union is exposed to one of these types of fraud.

The financial services marketplace has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last decade. The continuing growth of digital channels that require "customer-not-present" transactions to be conducted imposes tremendous challenges. 

Recent research supports this assertion. 

• A 2024 study conducted by Forrester Consulting, reveals 63% of financial firms reported an overall fraud increase of at least 6% within a 12-month period, with digital channels accounting for half of the overall fraud losses.
• A recent Javelin Research report revealed that the financial services sector experienced the largest increase in identity fraud cases with a 71% increase compared to the prior year.
  
  

Credit unions are not alone in this fight against the rise of identity fraud: more than 50% of organizations have experienced an uptick in fraud attempts in the past year.

Optimize Regulatory Compliance when Issuing Credit

Because Credit Unions issue credit, they must comply with complex regulatory requirements to validate whom they conduct such credit transactions with by immediately verifying the authenticity of the ID being presented. Regulatory examples include the Fair Credit Act, the “Red Flag Rule”, mandates associated with the Free and Accurate Credit Trade Act, the Bank Secrecy Act and the and Customer Identification Program required of all financial institutions. These combined legislative directives stipulate that issuers of credit must proactively involve themselves in the fight against identity theft by creating procedures, documented with step–by–step instructions, for how to validate ID documents of any individual applying for and being issued credit, and to maintain records of the identification for years after the event.

FraudFighter™ enables Credit Unions to immediately verify the authenticity of identification to stop crime before it can occur. We recommend and implement proven solutions designed to enhance credit union fraud prevention with easy to use, inexpensive and reliable protection controls.