By Donya Parrish, MCU VP- Risk Management

There is no question that fraud of all kinds is impacting each of your credit unions, members, and communities. We believe one of the ways to combat the losses and toll that fraud is taking is to share — so we are building out a fraud network in our state!

In addition to an email listserv for sharing information in real time, the current plans also include scheduling regular meetings to allow resources and best practices to be showcased. We hope to have at least one contact from each credit union that we can send details to for internal sharing.

Fighting fraud will be an ongoing challenge, but if we can assist in tracking and training within your credit union, building local networks with other financial institutions and law enforcement, and assisting each other across the state, we may be able to save your team time and, hopefully, even some losses.

Meagan Kraft and Brittany DeVries (Clearwater Credit Union) are taking a leadership role in this endeavor and would love to have others join them. They will be showcasing their internal fraud tracking method, wire review process, and new employee education at our January 10 meeting. Contact me with any questions, to be enrolled in the listserv, or to share ideas you have to this community.