Jan. 24, 2024 – The U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC), a membership organization devoted to advancing safe, easy-to-use faster payments in the United States, today published a new industry resource, titled Faster Payments Fraud Trends and Mitigation Opportunities (Bulletin.01). Developed by the FPC Fraud Work Group, sponsored by Verafin, a global leader in anti-financial crime management solutions, this inaugural bulletin is aimed at fostering safer user experiences and bolstering confidence and trust in faster payments.
Faster Payments Fraud Trends and Mitigation Opportunities examines the evolving landscape of faster payments fraud, providing insights gained from the FPC's prior work and addressing current trends and mitigation techniques. As faster payment methods gain popularity, so does the associated fraud. The bulletin sheds light on authorized push payment (APP) fraud, where an authorized party is deceived into sending a payment to a fraudster. It explores the increasing challenge of combating this fraud, emphasizing the need for education, awareness, and enhanced business workflow on both consumer and business fronts.
"This first bulletin reflects the dedication of the FPC's Fraud Work Group in addressing the dynamic landscape of faster payments fraud,” said Lee Kyriacou, Vice President, Real-Time Payments at The Clearing House and FPC Fraud Work Group Chair. “It provides a comprehensive analysis and sets the stage for industry-wide collaboration to strengthen our collective defense against fraud.”
Bulletin.01 highlights significant gaps in fraud detection, prevention, and mitigation, presenting opportunities for further progress. Two key gaps identified include:
"As we confront the challenges posed by evolving fraud schemes, a unified approach and foresight is crucial,” said Amanda Compton, Director of Integrated Account Protection at Arvest Bank and Vice Chair of the Fraud Work Group. “Our bulletin emphasizes the need for industry stakeholders to adopt effective fraud prevention processes and enhance information sharing practices to safeguard the payments ecosystem.”
Future FPC Fraud Work Group bulletins will explore opportunities for improvements in greater depth as well as a deep dive into a variety of other specific topics. Reducing faster payments fraud to consistently low levels will require shared effort and contribution from participants throughout the ecosystem.
"The Faster Payments Council remains dedicated to laying the groundwork for successful industry-wide efforts to combat fraud,” said FPC Executive Director Reed Luhtanen. “This bulletin not only outlines current trends and challenges but also serves as a call to action for industry participants to actively contribute to ongoing efforts in preventing, detecting, and mitigating faster payments fraud."
The FPC prioritizes inclusion of diverse perspectives in tackling complex topics such as interoperability, identifying real-world solutions that can ease adoption of faster payments, managing security risks and fraud threats, addressing barriers to financial inclusion and cross-border payments, and more, as the organization paves the way toward a future of faster payments for all.
For more information on the FPC, its current work efforts or to join, visit FasterPaymentsCouncil.org.
Contact:
Elizabeth Grice
U.S. Faster Payments Council
720-737-7368
egrice@fasterpaymentscouncil.org
About the U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC)
The FPC is an industry-led membership organization whose vision is a world-class payment system where Americans can safely and securely pay anyone, anywhere, at any time and with near-immediate funds availability. By design, the FPC encourages a diverse range of perspectives and is open to all stakeholders in the U.S. payment system. Guided by principles of fairness, inclusiveness, flexibility and transparency, the FPC uses collaborative, problem-solving approaches to resolve the issues that are inhibiting broad faster payments adoption in this country. For more information, please visit FasterPaymentsCouncil.org.