Fraudsters aren’t only targeting customers anymore. They’re targeting fraud teams.

In this episode of Fraud Forward, Hailey Windham sits down with Jared Gruenberg to explain how fake LinkedIn companies are using Easy Apply and “pre-interview” screening emails to harvest operational intelligence; the exact tools, signals, and investigation workflows that fraud, AML, and compliance teams use to stop bad actors.

Jared shares the real-world pattern he found across multiple impersonated companies, including suspicious hiring volume, fake employee profiles, brand-new domains, and fast follow-ups that push candidates to answer detailed technical questions. The goal isn’t just personal data, it’s industry mapping. When attackers collect hundreds of answers from experienced candidates, they can tune their tactics, probe specific vendor controls, and even train themselves to pass recruiter screens.

Hailey and Jared also dig into why this works: LinkedIn’s trust factor, the low-friction nature of Easy Apply, and the human reality of burnout, layoffs, and career pressure that makes “two taps on your phone” feel worth it.

Topics covered:

• How fake LinkedIn companies use Easy Apply as an attack surface

• The signals that reveal impersonation and resume-harvesting rings

• Why fraud, AML, and compliance resumes are especially valuable

• How “technical screening” emails turn into playbook extraction

• What attackers can do with aggregated investigator responses

• Why burnout and layoffs increase vulnerability, even for experts

• Practical steps to protect fraud knowledge and share intelligence safely

🎙 Guest lineup:

Jared Gruenberg — Fraud investigator and author of “Your Fraud Team Is Leaking Your Defense Playbook Right Now”

Hailey Windham — Host of Fraud Forward & Community Banking Lead, Sardine

👉 Subscribe for more real-world fraud insights from the people closest to the risk.

“It’s always Day One” sounds like a startup cliché… until you hear it from someone who’s spent his career on the front lines of threat finance.

In this episode of Fraud Forward, host Hailey Windham sits down with Ari Redbord (Global Head of Policy & Government Affairs at TRM Labs) to unpack how financial crime prevention is evolving as crypto, traditional finance, and AI-driven scams collide. Ari’s path spans federal prosecution in D.C., the U.S. Treasury, sanctions and terrorism financing, giving him a rare view of where policy, investigations, and technology actually meet.

Hailey and Ari get real about what “public–private partnership” should mean in practice (spoiler: not more roundtables), and why real-time disruption networks are the model forward. They break down why “crypto crime” is a misleading label, how blockchain transparency changes investigations, and what TradFi still does better when it comes to governance and mature controls.

They also dig into the operational reality teams are wrestling with right now: AI moving faster than regulation, scams scaling with generative tooling, and the risk of falling behind if fraud and compliance don’t learn how to harness new tech without losing human judgment.

The core takeaway is simple: the threats are moving faster, across more rails, and complacency is the real risk, so the mindset has to stay Day One.

Guest lineup:

1. Ari Redbord: Global Head of Policy & Government Affairs at TRM Labs
2. Hailey Windham: Host of Fraud Forward and Community Banking Lead at Sardine

Know your customer (KYC) was never designed to be fraud control, yet fraud programs across the industry treat it like one. In this episode of Fraud Forward, host Hailey Windham sits down with Steve Lenderman, Head of Fraud Prevention at iSolve, for a necessary conversation about what KYC actually does, what it can't do, and why that distinction matters more than ever.

Steve and Hailey challenge the assumption that passing KYC means an identity is safe to trust. They explore why every fraud eventually passes KYC, how synthetic identities exploit static verification, and what AI has revealed about the limitations of one-time checks. From the gap between identity existence and identity ownership to the behavioral signals that matter after onboarding, this episode reframes KYC as a starting point, not a solution.

The highlights:

1. Why every fraud eventually passes KYC
2. The gap between identity existence and identity ownership
3. Behavioral signals that matter after onboarding
4. Why AI didn't break KYC, rather how it just exposed what was already broken

Guest lineup:

1. Steve Lenderman: Head of Fraud Prevention at iSolve
2. Hailey Windham: Host of Fraud Forward and Community Banking Lead at Sardine

Agentic commerce sounds futuristic, until it starts hitting your auth flows, your dispute queues, and your monitoring pipelines.

In this episode of Fraud Forward, host Hailey Windham sits down with Chen Zamir, Head of Fraud Strategy at Sardine and Founder of Native Risk, to unpack what happens when AI agents don’t just recommend, they act. They browse, click, checkout, retry, and optimize at machine speed, sometimes with no human in the loop.

Hailey and Chen break down the two flavors of agentic commerce (API/MCP-based vs. in-browser agents), then get direct about the fraud pressure that follows any new payment-adjacent product. They dig into the first typologies likely to spike, why “secure protocols” won’t solve the real problems, and the OTP timing trap that makes step-up friction feel irrelevant when the customer is asleep, offline, or busy on purpose.

They also cover the downstream damage teams aren’t modeling yet: rising abandonment, risk scores inflated by failed challenges, messier proof of intent, and a stack that struggles to separate agentic flows from everything else.

The core takeaway is simple: fraud teams need to identify, route, and manage agent-driven transactions as a distinct channel before the ecosystem forces the issue.

Guest lineup:

1. Chen Zamir: Head of Fraud Strategy at Sardine, founder of NativeRisk
2. Hailey Windham: Host of Fraud Forward and Community Banking Lead at Sardine

Fraud programs often measure what is easiest, not what’s most important. In this episode of Fraud Forward, host Hailey Windham welcomes back Frank McKenna for an honest, wide-ranging conversation about the realities fraud leaders are facing today.

Frank and Hailey dig into where fraud hides in plain sight, why so many losses are misclassified as credit risk, and how institutions consistently overreact to trends while underinvesting in the fraud already hitting their balance sheets. They explore the role AI is truly playing in fraud today, where it adds value, where it falls short, and why humans must remain firmly in the loop.

From loan fraud and credit washing to insider threats, identity overinvestment, and the long-term impact of bad fraud decisions on customers and employees, this episode challenges comfortable assumptions and legacy thinking. It is a candid discussion about what fraud teams need to stop doing, what they need to do differently, and how fraud is becoming an existential issue for financial institutions.

Guest lineup:

1. Frank McKenna: Chief Fraud Strategist, Co-Founder at Point Predictive
2. Hailey Windham: Host of Fraud Forward and Community Banking Lead at Sardine

Links:

1. Frank on Fraud
2. No Brakes, No Limits. Our Fraud Predictions For 2026 - Frank on Fraud

Fraud isn’t slowing down, it’s evolving. The Banking on Fraudology podcast is now Fraud Forward, and we’re kicking off the new era with a no-nonsense look at what financial institutions are actually facing on the front lines.

In this premiere episode, host Hailey Windham brings together fraud, risk, and BSA leaders from banks and credit unions to separate real signals from industry noise. No hype. No fear-mongering. Just firsthand insight from teams fighting fraud at machine speed.

We unpack:

1. What fraud teams saw escalate over the past year
2. Which threats are accelerating into 2026
3. Where banks and credit unions remain most exposed
4. How digital arrest scams, Ghost Tap fraud, and self-adapting AI attacks are changing the game
5. Why in-branch controls are making a comeback

If you’re responsible for fraud prevention, BSA, risk, or compliance, this episode offers clear, realistic guidance on what to prioritize now, and what needs to change as fraud keeps moving faster.

🎙 Guest lineup:

Karen Boyer, SVP, Financial Crimes - M&T Bank

Jen Lamont, BSA & Fraud Manager - America’s Credit Union

Angela Diaz, Senior Risk Manager, External Fraud Oversight - TD

Hailey Windham, Host of Fraud Forward & Community Banking Lead - Sardine

👉 Subscribe for more real-world fraud insights from the people closest to the risk.

In this episode of Banking on Fraudology, Hailey Windham reflects on her journey in the industry by sharing big news and zooming out to address the "seismic shift" this change represents for her career and the community.

Hailey officially announces she has joined Sardine as their Community Lead for Banking. She directly addresses industry skepticism, clarifying that this move is a values-aligned, impact-driven decision and "not a sellout moment".

The conversation dives into the industry's evolution , highlighting how shared learning, cross-institution conversations, and an authentic community are shaping the future of fraud prevention.

Belief and Values Alignment are Essential: The "Why" Behind the Decision

• The Trust Filter: Hailey notes that she only puts her name behind brands she trusts and never stays silent for convenience.
• Culture Over Tech: What stood out about Sardine was its culture of humility and curiosity, and a willingness to say, "We don't have this all figured out. Let's build it with the community".
• Voice and Ownership: Crucially, she was never asked to change her voice , and she retains ownership of her catalog.

Scaling Impact (Internal Threat): The Shift from Individual to Community

• Hailey explains that the role isn't about pushing product; it's about building authentic banking and credit union communities and challenging the status quo.
• This move is about scaling impact—moving from helping one or two credit unions at a time to having a much bigger reach and connecting them with resources.
• The goal is to move past institutional silos, driven by the mindset that "fraud doesn't happen in silos and neither should our solutions".

Fraud Forward (External Threats): The Podcast Evolves Alongside the Industry

• Banking on Fraudology is evolving and will be rebranded as Fraud Forward.
• The rebrand will bring improved production quality, consistency, and reach, allowing for bigger, bolder conversations.
• Hailey promises the same honesty, hard conversations, and advocacy for fraud fighters will continue.

Get in the mood of being grateful for the fraud-fighting community, and be reminded of how strong the fraud-fighting community truly is. The next chapter is about moving fraud prevention forward together.

In this bonus episode of Banking on Fraudology, powered by Safeguard , Hailey Windham talks with Ben Graf, a self-taught AI expert in the neobank space. Ben embodies the spirit of curiosity and courage driving the next wave of fraud-fighting transformation.

The conversation dives into what it really looks like to learn AI from the ground up, emphasizing that the future of fraud prevention isn't about replacing people, but empowering them through technology.

Key Takeaways: AI, Innovation, and Fraud-Fighting Empowerment

Using AI to Learn AI: Ben explains how he used varying LLM chats (like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini) as a coach or mentor, experimenting for hours to understand their capabilities, consistency, and how to effectively prompt them.

• This approach helped him translate technical language and practices (like data analysis, SQL, and JavaScript) into actionable knowledge for his team, breaking down communication barriers.
• The hardest part was knowing where to start, but the key was realizing that "something is better than nothing" and compounding knowledge quickly breaks down barriers.

Practical AI Applications for Eliminating Busy Work: AI should be used to make teams more efficient and help professionals focus strategically.

• Automating Document Verification: AI can use OCR to pull data, flag inconsistencies, and serve up summaries for identity, business, and income documents, which are often the most time-consuming parts of a review.
• Data Retrieval and System Silos: AI can help team members write their own SQL queries to retrieve data from data warehouses, dramatically reducing requests to the data team.
• Product and Feature Proposals: AI tools can mock up full dashboard concepts and even provide code snippets to give engineers a visual and break down communication barriers between fraud and technical teams.

The Power of Empowerment and Buy-In: Leadership should create a culture where fraud fighters are empowered to explore and innovate.

• The magic of time savings lies in filling the time freed from "busy work" (like false positives) with new, high-impact tasks, whether that's cost savings in fraud loss or better customer retention.
• Teams are advised to keep proprietary or PII information out of the loop and find safe spaces to explore, remembering that everyone is still figuring out what AI can do.

Get in the mood of being grateful for the fraud-fighting community, and be reminded of how strong the fraud-fighting community truly is.

About Hailey Windham:

As a 2023 CU Rockstar Recipient, Hailey Windham, CFCS (Certified Financial Crimes Specialist) demonstrated unbounding passion for educating her community, organization and credit union membership on scams in the market and best practices to avoid them. She has implemented several programs within her previous organizations that aim at holistically learning about how to prevent and detect fraud targeted at membership and employees.

Windham’s initiatives to build strong relationships and partnerships throughout the credit union community and industry experts have led to countless success stories. Her applied knowledge of payments system programs combined with her experience in fraud investigations offers practical concepts that are transferable, no matter the organization’s size.

Connect with Hailey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hailey-windham/