What’s up fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward!

We spend a lot of time talking about how scams work. This time we’re talking about how a scam feels while it’s happening to someone, and why one credit union decide that was the most important story to tell.

Amanda Balmer, Director of Financial Crimes at SPECU, has joined me for conversations at conferences before. This is the first time she gets an episode of her own. Amanda leads a team of analysts, investigators, and strategists who protect members. And she’s a big part of why PSECU Fraud Files exists. It’s a video series the credit union built with its marketing team that shares real member stories, anonymized, to help other members spot the warning signs before they lose money.

We dig into why PSECU moved from a newsletter to storytelling while protecting member privacy and dignity, all to build a series that is changing the way members and employees talk about fraud. We also look at the scams hitting credit unions right now, including how a fraudster can coach someone to lie to their own financial institution. If you have ever wondered how a story can treat member education as both an awareness effort and a fraud control, this one is for you.

• How Amanda went from criminal justice student to social worker, private investigator, intelligence analyst, and now director of financial crimes
• How a team of analysts, investigators, and strategists works across PSECU to protect members and the credit union
• Why impostor scams, including bank impersonation scams and one-time passcode scams, are the trend having the biggest impact right now
• How fraudsters coach victims to get around the questions financial institutions ask
• Why PSECU treats member fraud education as both awareness and a fraud control
• How the Fraud Files evolved from a newsletter into fraud awareness videos built around real member stories
• How PSECU approaches anonymizing member fraud stories and takes the shame out of them
• A complete job scam story involving a fake check and a mobile deposit, and the scam red flags it reveals
• What frontline employees can notice in an ordinary conversation, and how these stories have changed internal training and empathy

• Work in credit union fraud prevention and want a model for member education that goes beyond warning lists
• Are thinking about sharing real member stories and need a plan for privacy, marketing, and legal approval
• Lead or train frontline staff and want practical ways to bring fraud prevention into everyday conversations
• Want to understand how job scams, fake checks, and mobile deposit check fraud look from the member’s point of view
• Support scam victims and want language that replaces blame with understanding
• Are trying to build a better working relationship with your marketing team