PSCU helps credit unions proactively fight fraud with Enhanced Fraud Services
Additional fraud-fighting capabilities further elevate CUSO’s best-in-class offerings
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (November 10, 2020) — Following the successful soft launch of its Enhanced Fraud Services in Summer 2019, PSCU – the nation’s premier credit union service organization – today announced the service has helped 10 early adopter credit unions combat fraud of all types, ranging from first-party chargeback fraud to identifying card information being sold on the dark web. This advanced service focuses on providing credit union users with concierge-like fraud consulting.
PSCU’s Enhanced Fraud Services addresses fraud concerns for credit unions with unique characteristics in their membership portfolio that require a customized approach. Credit unions receive an assigned risk program consultant who, on a daily basis, holistically analyzes the credit union’s fraud and risk mitigation initiatives. From there, risk program consultants build a customized program and response plan, which helps strengthen a credit union’s existing anti-fraud efforts in order to more quickly and accurately prevent fraud and reduce losses. Each credit union can choose what types of fraud and metrics on which it would like to focus in order to measure success for its program.
“Fraudsters continue to become more sophisticated and resolute, deploying a variety of attacks from multiple channels that no single credit union is equipped to handle on its own,” said Jack Lynch, SVP, chief risk officer at PSCU and president of CU Recovery. “Our Enhanced Fraud Services provides an extra layer of protection by adding risk program consultants to a credit union’s risk management arsenal, reducing the impact of fraud and elevating the member experience.”
With Enhanced Fraud Services, a risk program consultant serves as an extension of the credit union staff, proactively supporting a credit union’s fraud and risk mitigation initiatives by recommending improved strategies and techniques to reduce losses. Benefits include:
- Portfolio Review – A review of key membership characteristics, assessment of fraud exposure, custom-built response strategies and direction on reissue needs
- First-Party Fraud Investigations – An analysis of fraudulent transactions, merchant history and account history for excess fraud reporting for further consulting
- Data Share for Deep Dive – A download of bad IP addresses and other relevant data shared with the credit union and additional analysis after running it through PSCU’s Linked Analysis tool
- Dark Web Monitoring – Seeks out a credit union’s specific BINs for sale on the dark web, applying protocol to stop fraud
- Interactive and Onsite Performance Reviews – Delivers monthly calls and annual on-site performance reviews (when appropriate) of fraud rules, approval rates, fraud loss ratios, trends and reporting
State Department Federal Credit Union (Alexandria, Va.), one of the pilot credit unions, reported a savings of more than $117,000 within six months through monitoring for and identifying member cards on the dark web.
“The startup process for Enhanced Fraud Services was completely seamless, and we began to see the benefits of the service quickly,” said Tim Comeau, manager, Payment Strategy at State Department Federal Credit Union. “Through assisting with monitoring the dark web, maximizing reporting, and setting up and tracking detailed information, we are pleased with the fraud prevention measures provided by PSCU’s Enhanced Fraud Services.”
Pennsylvania’s largest credit union and another pilot organization, PSECU (Harrisburg, Penn.), has also experienced success.
“Through PSCU’s Enhanced Fraud Services, our credit union works with an experienced team of experts who have daily insight into fraud attempts across the industry, which allows them to better anticipate and combat fraud,” said Eric Leighow, director, Visa Services at PSECU. “With the help of our dedicated risk program consultant, we can assess and compare fraud strategies prior to implementation in order to proactively strengthen our approach. This expanded toolset from PSCU stops fraud before it starts and helps provide an even better experience for our members.”
PSCU employs a multi-layered approach to combat fraud, utilizing a number of technologies and best practices to block fraud at the point of sale, in the contact center and online, among other channels. This includes PSCU’s proprietary Linked Analysis, developed by PSCU’s in-house fraud experts to prevent fraud before it happens by leveraging cross-network analytics. Linked Analysis enables PSCU to link events through artificial intelligence (AI) across different platforms, individuals across different institutions, merchants across any card and all of these points to each other – creating a 360-degree view of a member. In fiscal year 2020, the CUSO stopped more than $400 million in potential fraud for its Owner credit unions and their members.
About PSCU
PSCU/Co-op Solutions is the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) and an integrated financial technology solutions provider. With over four decades of industry experience and a commitment to service excellence and innovation, the company serves more than 4,000 financial institutions throughout North America. PSCU/Co-op Solutions leverages its expertise and resources on behalf of credit unions and their members, offering an end-to-end product portfolio that includes payment processing, fraud and risk management, data and analytics, digital banking, instant payments, strategic consulting, collections, ATM and POS networks, shared branching and 24/7/365 member support via its contact centers. For more information, visit pscu.com and coop.org.
