League InfoSight Highlight: New Fraud Content Alert

By Emma Nelson, Relationship and Regulatory Compliance Manager, League InfoSight

Fraudsters frequently target the financial industry to access personally identifiable information, financial data, and other sensitive information. This information can be obtained from and exploited in various schemes, such as identity fraud, account takeover, phishing scams, wire transfer fraud, and more. As their tactics evolve, fraudsters continue to pose new threats to credit unions. Recent fraud trends include:

• Account Takeover: A form of identity theft where criminals use phishing and other tactics to steal account credentials and personal information from members or employees. They exploit this information to take control of accounts.
  
  
• Check Fraud: Criminals target USPS sorting facilities, blue collection boxes, and residential mailboxes to steal checks. Check fraud is on the rise, especially mail theft-related schemes. These checks may undergo "check washing," which alters check information for cashing or depositing at financial institutions.
  
  For more details, read FinCEN’s Alert on Nationwide Surge in Mail Theft-Related Check Fraud Schemes. We also recommend using the Check Deposit Notice Generator provided through InfoSight, an online tool for evaluating checks.
  
  
• Synthetic Identity Fraud: Fraudsters create fake identities by combining real and fictitious information. These synthetic identities are used for account takeovers and impersonation schemes and applications for new accounts, credit cards, and loans.

• Phishing: Leveraging generative artificial intelligence, fraudsters can create convincing voice and video content to impersonate credit union employees, members, third parties, regulators, etc. These schemes aim to trick victims into revealing sensitive information or initiating unauthorized wire transfers.

To help you address emerging fraud risks, we’ve updated the Fraud Channel with new content under Cyber-Enabled Fraud and Wire Transfers topics. Key updates include key areas such as ATM and Interactive Teller Machine (ITM) Fraud, Deepfakes, Phishing Attacks, Third-Party Attacks, Virtual Currency Investment Scams, and Wire Fraud.

We encourage you to log in to InfoSight and explore the updated content. Learn more about the latest fraud trends and discover actionable steps to protect your credit union from potential threats.