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

I always say fraud is a team sport, and this episode is exactly why.

I recorded these conversations live from the ACFE fraud conference in Boston, sitting down with five fraud fighters who each bring a completely different piece of the puzzle. Law enforcement. Banking. Government. Fintech. BSA. Investigations. Every single one of them came back to the same point: we cannot fight fraud alone, and the silos we work in are one of the biggest advantages we are handing to fraudsters.

Marc Evans opened the conversation by making the case that fraud analyst training has to be rooted in real cases, not theory. Linda Miller followed with one of the most honest takes of the day: the organizations waiting for regulatory guidance before building their AI governance frameworks are already behind. Tracy Swaim added something I had never heard framed so cleanly, that document fraud is a context problem, not a technology problem. And Dustin Eaton brought it back to the data: clean, collective information is the edge, and fraudsters are counting on us not having it.

Jen Lamont closed it out with a reminder that hit close to home. For every fraud fighter who cannot make it to a conference like this, the knowledge is still out there. Podcasts, white papers, LinkedIn, local and international fraud associations. This community is one of the most generous there is.

And if there is one thing I took away from all five conversations, it is this: fraudsters share everything with each other. Until we do the same, we are always playing catch-up.

• Why the ACFE fraud conference brings together fraud fighters from banking, government, law enforcement, fintech, and investigations under one roof
• How cross-sector fraud prevention helps organizations identify emerging threats faster
• Why breaking silos in fraud is one of the biggest opportunities facing our industry right now
• What Marc Evans has learned training new fraud analysts using real investigations and holistic case data
• Why AI governance is outpacing organizational readiness, and what Linda Miller says financial institutions should do before regulations catch up
• How Tracy Swaim reframes document fraud detection around interrogating context rather than authenticating the document itself
• Why clean and connected data is the foundation of effective AI-driven fraud prevention, according to Dustin Eaton
• How Jen Lamont approaches fraud analyst training, mentorship, and continuous learning for fraud teams at every level
• Career advice for new fraud fighters from five professionals who have built careers across every corner of this industry

• Attend fraud conferences and want practical ideas you can bring back to your team
• Lead a fraud, investigations, risk, or financial crimes program and want to strengthen cross-sector fraud prevention
• Are responsible for fraud analyst training or new fraud analyst onboarding
• Want to understand how AI governance and deepfake document fraud are reshaping the threat landscape
• Are early in your fraud career and want honest advice from professionals across banking, government, law enforcement, and fintech