Every April during Financial Literacy Month we celebrate National Teach Children to Save Day . It’s a time to help young people understand the value of money. But in today’s world, that also means teaching them how to protect it. As a payments professional and a parent of a 7-year...
March 1 - 7 is National Consumer Protection Week , a nationwide initiative focused on fraud awareness and prevention sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. 2026 is the 28 th year of the FTC joining with partner organizations to amplify the importance of consumer protection. During...
Romance scams are among the costliest fraud threats facing consumers today. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), people reported more than $800 million lost to romance scams in 2024, reflecting both emotional and financial harm. For financial institutions, these scams create unique...
2024 kicks off with Data Privacy Week (January 21 – 27) and Identity Theft Awareness Week (January 29 – February 2) back-to-back. Fraudsters frequently use social engineering when perpetrating identity theft, data breaches, and other types of financial fraud. As SVP,...
Penny transactions, smoke testing, micro-entries, small value testing, and penny drop testing are a few of the names applied to the type of transaction used to test the validity of a bank account by depositing a small amount of money. The Nacha Operating Rules (ACH rules) define the term...
Year after year, fraud continues to grow exponentially. Over 800,000 reports were received by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2022, representing $10.2 billion in potential total loss - a significant jump from the $6.9 billion reported in 2021. Now that the holiday...
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is an international day of observance held every year on June 15. First established in 2006 by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and officially recognized by the United Nations...
According to the FBI, romance scams occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity, usually on a dating or social media site, to gain a victim’s affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a close relationship to steal from the victim. The scammer’s intention is to establish...