Modernizing Omnichannel Check Fraud Detection

OnPay Solutions President and CEO Neal Anderson minced no words in a recent interview with Pymnts.com wherein he discussed B2B payments fraud trends, including the growing threat of internal fraud. He went on to explain that organizations need to prepare themselves to address and mitigate the fraud threat, even as employees work from home.

BG Motor Cars owner Noman Beg was on vacation when he took a look at his bank account -- and noted, with considerable alarm, that a check had been written against his account for $33,525. Problem was, he had not written that check, nor did he foresee being able to cover it alongside normal expenses in the near future.

The “Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act,” also known as “Check 21” or “Check 21 Act,” launched on Oct. 28, 2004. Many are unaware that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001—which grounded planes and caused major delays in check processing (preventing the transport of canceled checks to Federal Reserve banks)—was actually the event that spurred passage of Check 21.

While we mainly explore fraud and counterfeit scams from the payment side of things, it should be noted that the popularity of online shopping -- particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic -- has created a new breed of fraudster that creates and sells fake products. Meanwhile, Amazon is not immune from fraudsters, as reported in WIRED Magazine:

Motley Fool's The Ascent recently took look at FTC statistics in order to get a handle on mounting COVID-19 fraud losses losses to persons and businesses. COVID-19 fraud is defined in this case as any type of scam, fraud, or identity theft related to the novel coronavirus. Key findings from the report include: As of August 10, 2020, Americans have reported over 160,000 cases of fraud and losses of over $106 million.

A story from the New York Post features Case William Kelley, 42, who utilized a home printer to create a fraudulent check to successfully purchase a Porsche from an Oklahoma Dealer. This may sound like fake news...

Nigerian “419 scammer” goes big time “Hushpuppi” portrayed himself as successful and wealthy to recruit and fool victims It was a small error that eventually snared him By now, the phrase “Nigerian email scammer” has become a cliche to the extent that one wonders if they actually exist in the literal sense — a person…

An article by Antoinette Burnside, assistant vice president and product manager for Kennewick-based Community First Bank and HFG Trust, appeared in the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business, describing how pervasive check fraud is feeding financial fraud in general.

Among the myriad fraud schemes emerging during the COVID-19 crisis are "money mule schemes." A money mule is “a person who transfers illegally acquired money on behalf of or at the direction of another.” These are scams that, frankly, take advantage of the desperation some persons and businesses feel due to to COVID-19 economic impacts. In this climate, actors are able to fairly easily deceive otherwise savvy victims by impersonating federal government agencies, international organizations, or charities.

Pymnts.com looks at the startling emerging story of a Germany payments company called Wirecard, where as much as $2.1 billion may be unaccounted for. The story notes that "even the largest companies with the most resources to digitize and combat fraud are not immune to the risk — from both within and outside of, the organization."

As seen in the above video, scammers representing themselves as officials of government agencies is a common tactic. Victims are caught off-guard by the scammer’s aggressive tone and threats of legal repercussions, raising the victim’s anxiety and clouding their judgement to extract money from them. The scammers have adopted a new angle, utilizing the pandemic to their advantage.

As noted many times both here and in the general media, check fraud persistent and pervasive -- and now compounded by fraudsters constructing corona virus-related scams. Financial institutions should be on high alert for scams and fraud schemes that target the institution itself and/or its customers. It is equally important for financial institutions to evaluate their current check fraud processes and technologies and identify any possible gaps.

This is a fairly typical fraud scheme that many, if not all of us, have encountered within our email inboxes. While we would normally mark the email as "spam," delete it from our inbox, and move on with our day, there is a reason fraudsters continue to utilize this scam. The emails are sent to a large number of email addresses in hopes to find a less technically savvy individuals.

According to Frank on Fraud, there are 16 main types of check fraud On the surface, check fraud growth defies logic A huge amount of check fraud goes unreported – – up to $1.2 billion in losses per year, in fact FRANK ON FRAUD is a terrific (and entertaining) blog by Frank McKenna, the Co-Founder…

Javelin Strategy & Research has made available their 2020 Identity Fraud Study (available for download here). The data presents a sobering outlook: The results of Javelin’s 2020 Identity Fraud Survey serve as a wake-up call—one that will force financial institutions, businesses, and the payment industry to reevaluate how identity fraud is managed. Total identity fraud reached $16.9 billion (USD) in 2019, yet the dollar loss is only part of the story. To have a more fulsome understanding of identity fraud a comprehensive evaluation of the drop in number of victims lead to several unsettling findings. Criminals are targeting smaller numbers of victims, while inflicting damage that is more complex to prevent or remediate.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (under the jurisdiction of the US Department of the Treasury) has rolled out an easy-to-use check fraud and forgery resource at HelpWithMyBank.gov that represents a valuable and easily accessible tool for banks and their customers.

In April our post featured "celebrity fraudster" Matt Cox as he described his methods for perpetrating check fraud. He knows of which he speaks; he is the author of the book Shark in the Housing Pool: On the Run With the Secret Service's Most Wanted (out of 15 Amazon reviews, it has 14 five-star ratings -- but let's remember that the author is a professional fraudster...)

It is important to understand that while check fraud is a significant problem in the US, similar trends are occurring in Europe as well. In Europe, there was a shared view of paper checks as a payment vehicle on the road to the junkyard years ago -- only to find out that it remains a popular payment method in many countries.

You get a text from Costco offering you stimulus checks or packages because you're a loyal customer. Great news, right? The old saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably not true" comes to mind...

The negative impact of check fraud really hits home when it happens to you, a friend or relative. Unfortunately, as we see in the following drama, you don’t get the Hollywood ending if you’re unprepared. A former colleague of ours, Eric Oliver, used to work for VSoft and Fiserv...

We've detailed various scenarios fraudsters contruct and provided the profiles of a fraudster, but what does check fraud look like from the vantage point of the fraudster? Matthew Bevan "Matt" Cox is an American former mortgage broker and admitted mortgage fraudster. Cox is also an aspiring author who wrote an unpublished manuscript entitled The Associates, in which the main character -- surprise! -- traveled the country to perpetrate mortgage fraud.

In these days of unprecedented events and protocols related to the coronavirus pandemic, it comes as no surprise that fraudsters of all stripes are taking advantage of any and all aspects of the situation.

The check is in the mail Fraud awareness Treasury checks and image analysis The old adage “the check’s in the mail” is somewhat appropriate right now as the government ramps up the stimulus program with $1,200 coming to many Americans. In the OrboNation blog post yesterday, we provided a quick estimate of the number of…

During 2019, more than 1.9 million consumers cashed FTC checks received as a result of law enforcement cases. When consumers don’t cash their refund checks, the FTC uses that money to send additional mailings to ensure the maximum amount of money is returned to consumers. Any remaining refund money is sent to the U.S. Treasury.

From the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta comes an informative overview of check usage entitled U.S. Consumers’ Use of Personal Checks: Evidence from a Diary Survey. The authors look at 1,600 individual transactions to gain an understanding of what check payments are currently used for—by dollar value, and by payee—and who uses checks (in terms of demographics and income).

OrboGraph recently co-hosted with Nice Actimize a dynamic webinar entitled Change is Inevitable - How Will You Respond? Along with OrboGraph's Joe Gregory, Allegra Angus and Nithin Mangalore of Nice Actimize discussed with attendees different aspects of check fraud trends, best practices for combating check fraud, including incorporating machine learning and image analysis.

Modernizing Omnichannel Check Fraud Detection An informative blog series exploring payments fraud and image technologies used to fight financial crimes. ACH Fraud Jumps – Are You Surprised? Checks represent a “big” target for fraudsters, but ACH fraud is growing faster ACH fraud growth, in fact, surprised industry leaders Has effective fraud prevention throttled check fraud…

Double-layered fraud: fraudsters who actually defrauded other recruits who thought they were "in on it" - both banks and accomplices alike we defrauded. To better detect fraud, banks need to strategically align their technologies.

Fraud attempts affected an estimated $25.1 billion held in deposit accounts, ABA’s survey found, with $22.3 billion protected per the Banking Exchange Prevention was the equivalent of $9 for every $10 in attempted fraud, per Dodd Frank Update Attempted check fraud spiked 43% in two years, per PYMNTS.com The American Bankers Association’s (ABA) 2019 Deposit…

ABA reported a significant check fraud uptick in 2018 data B2B payments are still dominated by checks – leading to more opportunities for fraud – is it overrated? Assessing real-time, Positive Pay fraud systems with image can stop fraud at various stages of the workflow Corporate Payments Landscape: Checks Still Rule in B2B The Wall…

Fraud techniques are evolving and check fraud is often intertwined with other types. Anyone involved in fraud detection and prevention needs to stay up-to-date, and Fraud Magazine offers some useful information.

2019 Federal Reserve Payments Study Reports 16B Checks Written Overall payments grew, while checks written declined Check fraud risk is increasing Checks lead other payment channels in fraud attempts per AFP It’s back! The 2019 Federal Reserve Payments Study, provides us new insights and metrics for the payment industry: The number of core noncash payments,…

Three kinds of check fraud dominate the pack Fraud has become more and more inexpensive to perpetrate Behavior analysis to fight cross channel fraud As fraudsters continue to evolve their tactics, it is important to understand what acts of fraud are being committed and what actions banks are taking in order to combat fraudsters. These…

Check fraudsters are getting technologically sophisticated; Many bank fraud legacy detection systems are hopelessly out-matched; Proof of Concept is vital to the success of even the newest tech

20 technical questions around fraud detection and models; complicated fraud scenarios must be well defined; AI and machine learning are effective, but multi-model approaches will outperform single models

While instant payment channels grow and multiply by the day, fraudsters remain interested in check fraud as a "reliable" form of illegal income. Let's look at the classic Fake Check fraud scheme, which has not lost popularity in spite of the growth of other payment channels.

Learn more about how as a by-product of EMV, check fraud rebounded, how market research provides many insights and learn more on how the majority of fraud professionals cite a need for tech investment to fight fraud.

Identify problematic use cases, check fraud evolution, using independent data sources improves fraud predictions

Welcome to the first in a series of posts exploring payments fraud, with an emphasis on check fraud detection. This informative blog series approaches this crucial topic in the following ways: