Financial Fraud Consortium

SPEAR PHISHING ? Traditional phishing scams are designed to steal money from as many unsuspecting victims (individuals and businesses) as possible via a bulk of spammy emails, text messages, or phone calls. The victims are tricked into sharing bank account information or credit card numbers or making a wire transfer to a fake vendor. Spear phishing is a variation of traditional phishing that targets individuals and businesses using a more personalized approach. The fraudsters spend time researching their targets to craft email messages that appear credible (e.g., from a family member, business associate, vendor, or frequently visited website). They gather information from business websites, online forums, and social media to build a profile of their spear phishing targets. This tailored approach to a social engineering attack increases the likelihood of success for the fraudster. It makes it more difficult for the recipient to recognize it as a spear phishing scam, ultimately posing a greater threat to individuals and businesses. However, there are ways to spot spear phishing scams. These include emails from unusual sending addresses, text messages from unknown senders, emails with poor grammar/spelling errors, and spammy phone calls. These are all red flags, especially if you are told to act quickly and provide personal and financial information. https://lnkd.in/eX65ryPQ

Synthetic Identity Fraud Increases ? The use of synthetic identities in a wide variety of fraud schemes is nothing new, but in 2025, the types of AI tools that bolstered scams in 2024 through deepfakes, image, document and text generation and automation, will be applied to the creation and use of synthetic identities in fraud schemes targeting government and private organizations at a higher rate. This will likely stem, at least in part, from a combination of the previous two trends; as scams targeting individuals and enhanced by AI become less effective, the criminal organizations orchestrating them will put those resources to use creating and deploying synthetic individual and business identities to carry out new account frauds, loan frauds, government benefit frauds, invoice frauds and more. It has never been easier for fraudsters to create convincing fraudulent persons or organizations and do so at a rate that will likely overwhelm the preventive and detective controls that organizations have in place. Anti-fraud professionals involved in the prevention and detection of synthetic identity fraud schemes will need to stay on their toes all of 2025 and be ready to update controls and fraud risk management frameworks regularly to adapt to the increasing and evolving threat. https://lnkd.in/g4azJe-e

Interesting and scary read! Yikes is right.

Good insights!

A recent CNBC article mentioned that 40% of workers would take a 5% pay cut to stay remote, and 9% would even accept a 20% cut. But what if we flipped the script? Instead of talking about pay cuts, I'd love to see a company run an experiment: offer a 5% bonus to employees who come into the office daily. Would people feel better about a bonus rather than a reduction in pay? A pay cut feels like a loss, but a bonus feels like a reward. I wonder if that simple shift would make a difference. How much of a bonus would it take for you to be willing to go back to the office full-time? https://lnkd.in/epmp26vG

?? Check out this insightful report, courtesy of the ACFE!

Victims of scams, I'm talking to you. I'm with you. I got scammed a month ago. I was meeting a friend for lunch in an unfamiliar city. I was running late and needed to park. I pulled up for street parking and saw that there was an online service I could use to pay by using my phone. I googled the words I saw on the street sign and clicked on the top response (RED FLAG). Gave them my credit card number and went to lunch. Turns out it was a scam and they charged me $40. My credit card company caught it and declined it. Then this month they tried again. Credit card company caught it again but cancelled my card. My scam is no big deal. It's just annoying and a nuisance. But the scams that many of you have suffered are life-changing. Most of you have received minimal or no assistance from law enforcement. Many of you have been hit a second time by scammers who mislead you into thinking that they can get your money back. A lot of you aren't totally sure where these scams are coming from or how they work. Almost all of you are confused about what to do next. At Shamrock we want to help. I'm hosting a webinar this Wednesday at 9 a.m. Pacific/noon Eastern. I'll tell you the behind the scenes of these scams and I'll show you pictures that I took of the compounds where they take place. I'll talk to you about my experience as a prosecutor and I'll help you set reasonable expectations about law enforcement. I'll caution you about those who say they can get your money back. And I will take your questions. Join me if you are a victim. Join me if you are watching someone you love go through this. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/eq4jRWzG For more information about Operation Shamrock and to sign up for updates, click here: www.operationshamrock.org EDUCATE.mobilize.disrupt

?? The Financial Fraud Consortium's next exclusive members-only event is just around the corner! Join us on Tuesday, February 11 at 1 ET/12 CT/2PT as David Ritter, CEO and co-founder of Privacy Lock takes us on a deep dive into "Understanding the Evolving Landscape of Data Privacy Regulations!"? ??Data privacy regulations are spreading quickly at the state and federal level,?creating new?compliance obligations for banks and financial?companies. In 2025, eight new state laws go into effect, while CFPB's Section 1033 and updates to COPPA and FTC breach notification requirements signal new compliance obligations at the federal level.?All of these changes create regulatory challenges for financial companies that serve consumers and collect sensitive?financial?information. In this presentation, we will provide a detailed overview of the regulatory landscape for data privacy, how these laws are transforming data management practices, and the connection between Privacy-Cyber Security-Fraud. ?? About the Speaker: David Ritter is the CEO and co-founder of Privacy Lock, and a leading provider of data privacy, governance, and compliance solutions to banks and financial companies. Mr. Ritter received his degree in financial and sociopolitical history from USC. He served as Project Director at the private equity firm Donghu Group Investments, where he managed projects with a portfolio value of $1 billion (USD) and also managed a P&A Fund in partnership with major Hollywood studios. Mr. Ritter has spent the last six years working in the compliance technology space for banks and financial companies. His last company provided tax compliance solutions to multinational banks. He co-founded Privacy Lock in 2021 as the first company providing privacy compliance solutions for banks and financial companies. #FinancialFraudConsortium #PrivacyLock #DataPrivacy

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Great info from our friends at KnowBe4! Thanks for the heads up! #FinancialCrimeFighters