In January CU*Answers, the 100% credit union-owned cooperative CUSO, purchased FraudNet, a fraud prevention software that detects potential fraudulent activity over the bill pay scheduled transactions, from Fiserv.  Based upon the initial six month timeframe FraudNet uncovered over $1.2 million dollars in suspicious activity and $108,000 in actual fraudulent transactions.  The beauty of the system is that FraudNet is detecting suspicious activity prior to it happening and stopping the transaction before it is scheduled to post. Risk management professionals must instruct the staff to actually pay the item or it is simply stopped by system.

“The bulk of the fraud occurred through either identity theft or fraudulent account opening activities”, said Jim Vilker VP of Professional Services and leader of the Audit Link division of the company.  Vilker went on to say that “Saving money for our owners members was obviously the major goal of the program but what was unexpected is what we learned about the different types of fraudulent activity currently occurring throughout the country.  From what we have seen, no one is immune to this type of criminal activity and it is happening in small town America as much as large metropolitan areas.”