Fighting fraud on multiple fronts

Fraud continues to be a pressing issue for credit unions and other financial institutions, and America’s Credit Unions’ fraud task force will meet today to collaborate on the latest ways credit unions are working to protect members and themselves. America’s Credit Unions also continues to work on ways to combat fraud in the legislative and regulatory arenas.

The Taskforce for Recognizing and Averting Payment Scams (TRAPS) Act (S. 2019), introduced by Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Mark Warner, D-Va., has America’s Credit Unions’ support. It would establish a task force to combat payment scams, and include representatives from the NCUA and a credit union.

America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle, Chief Advocacy Officer Carrie Hunt, and other leaders have met with Treasury Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s staff, and attended a Treasury roundtable to discuss the issue and how the industry is working to protect consumers.

A recent Regulatory Comment encourages credit unions to submit feedback on how federal financial regulators can work together to prevent fraud. Comments can be sent to America’s Credit Unions by Sept. 1 and are due to the agencies Sept. 18.

America’s Credit Unions also submitted detailed comments on the recent executive order modernizing federal disbursements, which included recommendations on updating funds availability rules to combat check fraud.

Resources available for credit unions include a best practices guide on assessing fraud risk on the Compliance Blog. A recent America’s Credit Unions blog entry shows how Armco Credit Union takes a multi-channel approach to fraud prevention.