The Favorite Lost the Derby. Same in Fraud.

On Saturday, Cherie DeVaux became the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner in the race’s 152-year history. Her horse, Golden Tempo, came from dead last to win at the wire.

• 23-1

Golden Tempo’s odds at the 2026 Kentucky Derby

ESPN, May 2, 2026

Two Things From That Race Apply to Fraud Right Now

• The favorite lost.
• The win happened at the wire.

We’ve Been On the Road, Here’s What We’re Hearing

Themes from the spring tradeshow circuit

• Account takeover and consumer check washing. Both keep coming up. They share a common thread: stolen credentials or stolen items used at a real institution against a real account, with the loss locked in by the time anyone notices.
• Elder romance scams. Climbing fast. FIs with longstanding relationships are seeing it close up. The hardest part: by the time the payment hits the queue, the relationship is months deep, and the account holder authorized the transfer themselves.
• Positive Pay frustration is everywhere. FIs tell us they’re stuck with bundled solutions from their core or banking platform vendor. Common complaints: file uploads fail, image analysis is unreliable, and investment in the product has flatlined. Some FIs admit they don’t recommend their own Positive Pay solution to commercial clients.

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• Fraudsters are reading new account policies. One pattern we keep hearing: an FI publishes a 30-day hold on check deposits for new accounts. The fraudster opens the account on day one, waits 31 days, deposits a fraudulent check. Some are pulling this straight from terms and conditions posted publicly on FI websites.

Why This Matters Now

The win comes at the wire, not at the start.

The favorite Saturday was Renegade. The smartest money was on him. He didn’t win.

Fraudsters know where the smartest money goes. They know where most FIs concentrate their controls. They know what’s published in your terms and conditions. And they’re patient.

By the time a bad payment is detected mid-flow, the loss is already locked in. The strongest defense lives at the moment of origination, where consortium data can verify ownership, return history, and account status before the payment moves.

The Takeaway

The institutions winning right now aren’t outspending fraudsters. They’re paying attention to what gets overlooked: a Positive Pay solution that actually works, account validation before money moves, and frontline patterns that match what their reps are seeing in the field.

Final Thoughts

Fraud rewards the same kind of attention. The institutions staying ahead are the ones listening to their teams, their account holders, and the place in

the payment flow where the controls actually sit.

If something on this list resonated, whether it’s Positive Pay, ATO, elder scams, or new account exploits, get in touch.