October marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a national initiative aimed at highlighting the importance of protecting personal and organizational data against an ever-evolving landscape of threats. For financial institutions, this month serves as both a reminder and a call to action: fraudsters are constantly innovating, and defending against them requires vigilance, education and the right tools.
Fraud tactics shift with technology, but many schemes remain effective because they exploit human behavior, system gaps and outdated security practices. Some of the most prevalent threats financial institutions face today include:
- Phishing and Business Email Compromise (BEC): Fraudsters impersonate executives, vendors or even regulators and send emails designed to trick staff into transferring funds or revealing sensitive data. In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 21,442 BEC complaints, resulting in adjusted losses exceeding $2.7 billion.
- Account Takeover (ATO): Using stolen credentials, scammers gain access to accounts to move funds or open new lines of credit.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: Criminals piece together real and fake information to create identities that generate unrecoverable losses.
- Check Fraud and Counterfeit Items: Even with fewer paper checks, fraudsters exploit mobile deposits, altered checks and stolen mail to commit fraud.
- Elder Financial Exploitation: Older consumers are often targeted through romance scams, tech support schemes or cognitive vulnerabilities, putting both their finances and reputations at risk.
Emerging Fraud Tactics to Watch For
Fraudsters are not only recycling old tricks, but they’re also adapting them to the digital era. A few areas of concern to monitor closely include:
- Deepfake and AI-Driven Fraud: Generative AI can mimic voices and create realistic videos, enabling scammers to impersonate CEOs or family members and increase BEC, phone scam and social engineering risks.
- Instant Payments Exploitation: The speed of RTP® and FedNow® makes it easier for fraudsters to push victims into irrevocable transfers before recovery is possible.
- Tokenization Loopholes: Vulnerabilities in how tokens are stored and verified are creating new avenues for exploitation as Fintechs and businesses adopt tokenization.
- Account Opening Fraud: Bots and stolen data are increasingly used to exploit online account opening portals, especially without controls like device fingerprinting or behavioral analytics.
- QR Code Scams: Fraudulent QR codes can redirect users to phishing sites or initiate unauthorized payments, making them an emerging risk in everyday transactions.
Staying Protected: Practical Steps
No institution can afford to be complacent. Strong defenses come from layering people, processes and technology. Consider the following best practices:
- Employee Training: Scenario-based training equips staff to recognize phishing, social engineering and suspicious account activity.
- Real-Time Monitoring: Fraud detection tools using machine learning can flag unusual activity across ACH, wire, check and instant payments channels.
- Consumer Education: Clear, timely resources help consumers identify and avoid phishing, account takeover and elder exploitation scams.
- Strong Authentication: Multi-factor authentication, biometrics and behavioral analytics help block many account-takeover attempts.
- Incident Response Playbooks: Having documented escalation paths, communication strategies and response actions ensures a quick, coordinated fraud response.
Resources to Support You
EPCOR is committed to helping navigate the complex fraud landscape. During Cybersecurity Awareness Month—and throughout the year—you can access:
- Cybersecurity Awareness Month Toolkit: Located in the Knowledge Community, this toolkit includes social media posts, infographics and handouts to help you educate your team and clients.
- Fraud Education Bundle: Covering trends across ACH, check, card and emerging payments, this bundle provides comprehensive training on current and emerging fraud risks.
- Did You Know Videos: Short, informational videos you can share forward to start conversations about current fraud risks.
- Other Fraud Awareness Toolkits: EPCOR members have access to additional toolkits to help staff and members stay informed about fraud trends, mitigation strategies and best practices. Make sure your communications or marketing team knows they have access to our Did You Know videos and toolkits as part of your EPCOR membership. A flyer is available to pass along to your communications or marketing team, and staff can create an account in the Knowledge Community to access all content anytime.
- Advisory Services: Our Advisory Team can help evaluate vulnerabilities in ACH, wires and instant payments, ensuring your controls align with today’s risks.
You can also benefit from leveraging national and government resources, including:
- StopRansomware.gov: A centralized resource from the U.S. government for ransomware awareness and defense.
Cybersecurity and fraud prevention are not “one-and-done” projects; they are ongoing commitments. Fraudsters will continue to experiment with new tactics, but by layering strong defenses, education and connection with trusted partners, your institution can remain resilient.
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EPCOR Payments Conference – Virtual 2025 is hitting your screens November 18–19! Tune in for a full lineup of sessions, including Fraud Trends and Mitigation: A Panel Discussion, Authentication and Authority in Online Payments, It’s Not Cyber, It’s Social and many more. Learn actionable strategies, stay ahead of evolving threats and power up your payments knowledge — all from the comfort of your office.
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