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Advanced Fraud Solutions

First in Fraud Defense

  • Who We Work With
        • WHO WE WORK WITH

        • Credit Unions
        • Half of the top 100 credit unions trust Advanced Fraud Solutions to serve as their omnichannel deposit fraud mitigation systems, protecting check, card and ACH.

        • Banks
        • Banks from $100 million to $100 billion rely on Advanced Fraud Solutions for their deposit fraud data, and to help them make real-time decisions on items.

        • Partners
        • Financial services hardware and software providers partner with Advanced Fraud Solutions because of their industry-leading fraud mitigation services and years of experience.

  • Solutions
        • SOLUTIONS

        • TrueChecks Logo
        • TrueChecks®
        • Despite falling check volume and usage, check fraud continues to rise. Our real-time deposit fraud detection software catches bad checks and reduces losses for banks and credit unions.

        • TrueCards Logo
        • TrueCards®
        • Learn about Advanced Fraud Solutions’ card fraud detection tools that use Dark Web sources to pinpoint at-risk cards in your debit and/or credit portfolio.

        • AFS Positive Pay Logo
        • Positive Pay by AFS
        • Learn about Advanced Fraud Solutions’ proactive check and ACH payment monitoring tool that helps financial institutions and businesses mitigate vendor and payroll fraud.

        • TrueACH® with Account Validation
        • Learn about Advanced Fraud Solutions’ ACH account validation tool that helps keep financial institutions in compliance and reduces faster payments fraud.

  • Insights
    • Check Fraud
          • 2022_Changing Landscape of Check Fraud
          • 2022: Changing Landscape Of Check Fraud

            Check fraud remains a pervasive issue. Banks and credit unions still cite check as a major fraud risk. Even despite a lower volume of checks in circulation, fraud… Download now>>

          • Check Fraud Remains a Significant Threat_300x123
          • Check Fraud Remains a Significant Threat

            Check fraud remains tenaciously persistent. Fraudsters continue to take advantage of access to inexpensive technology, social engineering tactics, and remote business practices to engage in illegal and deceptive check fraud schemes. Read now>>

          • Advanced Fraud Solutions Appoints Jordan Bothwell to Vice President of Strategic Partnerships_300x123
          • Advanced Fraud Solutions Appoints Jordan Bothwell to Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

            Advanced Fraud Solutions announced the appointment of Jordan Bothwell to Vice President of Strategic Partnerships. Jordan joins the position following a decade of experience in fraud prevention and… Read now>>

    • Card Fraud
          • Shedding Light On The Dark Web
          • Shedding Light On The Dark Web

            The Dark Web is home to many of the fraudsters targeting credit unions and banks. In this webinar, hosted by Q6 Cyber and Advanced Fraud Solutions, we will venture into the Dark Web (back by popular demand!) and profile the latest trends in financial fraud and cybercrime. Watch now>>

          • Advanced Fraud Solutions Adds Enhancements To TrueCards Platform
          • Advanced Fraud Solutions Adds Enhancements To TrueCards Platform

            Advanced Fraud Solutions (AFS), a leader in deposit fraud detection software, today announced updates to the TrueCards® platform, AFS’ omnichannel debit and credit card fraud prevention solution. Read more>>

          • Beating BIN Attacks: How To Protect Against Card-Not-Present Fraud
          • Beating BIN Attacks: How To Protect Against Card-Not-Present Fraud

            Card-not-present fraud (CNP) continues to flourish. In fact, there’s been a 25% increase in exposed CNP records, a total of 45 million, since 2019. Download now>>

    • ACH Fraud
      • Protecting ACH Payments_2022
      • Advanced Fraud Solutions Announces New Account Validation Tool to Address Nacha’s WEB Debit Account Validation Rule
      • How Financial Institutions Can Manage ACH Risk_300x123
      • Protecting ACH Payments

        How do financial institutions, who increasingly rely on ACH, safeguard faster payments and stay in compliance with Nacha? AFS’ new report issues related to fraud and compliance have also become top-of-mind for financial institutions.  Download now>>

      • AFS Announces New Account Validation Tool to Address Nacha’s WEB Debit Account Validation Rule

        AFS announced TrueACH® with Account Validation – a new ACH tool that enables financial institutions to confirm account status and authorized user(s). TrueACH with Account Validation was developed in response to Nacha’s WEB Debit Account Validation Rule, which requires financial institutions to apply a “commercially reasonable… Read more>>

      • How Financial Institutions Can Manage ACH Risk

        Financial institutions increasingly rely on the ACH Network to facilitate transactions. With that comes a responsibility to manage ACH risk, including helping to prevent fraudulent payments and mitigate any potential losses. Read more>>

    • Positive Pay
      • Fighting Fraud: How To Secure Business Accounts Against The Latest Fraud Tactics, Threats
      • Advanced Fraud Solutions Announces New Positive Pay Solution To Help Financial Institutions Fight Vendor Fraud
      • Looking Out For Payroll And Vendor Fraud: A Financial Institution's Guide
      • Fighting Fraud: How To Secure Business Accounts Against The Latest Fraud Tactics, Threats

        Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, fraud operators have capitalized on the behavioral shifts of workers and consumers, as well as the migration of payments online and the massive increase in PPP loans, stimulus checks, and expansion of unemployment benefits. Watch now>>

      • Advanced Fraud Solutions Announces New Positive Pay Solution To Help Financial Institutions Fight Vendor Fraud

        Advanced Fraud Solutions (AFS), a leading provider of deposit fraud detection software, today announced the launch of AFS Positive Pay – a positive pay solution designed so that financial institutions, and their enterprise customers, can proactively monitor changes in payments information. Read now>>

      • Looking Out For Payroll And Vendor Fraud: A Financial Institution’s Guide

        A financial institution’s guide to protecting business accounts from payment tampering, redirection, and business e-mail compromise. Download Now>>

    • Consumer Scams
      • Beware Of Mobile Deposit Scams
      • Romance Scams On The Rise: How Fraud Operators Exploit The Rise Of Online Dating In A Socially-Distant World
      • Four Dangerous Stimulus Scams
      • Beware Of Mobile Deposit Scams

        According to the FBI, there has been a 50% surge in mobile banking since the beginning of 2020. Download now>>

      • Romance Scams On The Rise: How Fraud Operators Exploit The Rise Of Online Dating In A Socially-Distant World

        The rise in online dating sites, coupled with the onset of social distancing in 2020, have helped make personal loneliness a target for virtual con artists. Download now>>

      • Four Dangerous Stimulus Scams

        Reports of stimulus payment-related fraud have sharply increased following the passage of the second stimulus package. Read now>>

    • Business Banking
      • Looking Out For Payroll And Vendor Fraud: A Financial Institution’s Guide
      • Protecting Business Accounts Against Fraud
      • How Banks And Credit Unions Can Build A Culture To Fight Fraud
      • Looking Out For Payroll And Vendor Fraud: A Financial Institution’s Guide

        A financial institution’s guide to protecting business accounts from payment tampering, redirection, and business e-mail compromise. Download Now>>

      • Protect Business Accounts Against Fraud

        For businesses, trust in their financial institution is paramount. But with so many businesses under attack from fraud operators, where do they turn? In this webinar, the AFS fraud experts explore the latest fraud tactics — including BEC, vendor and payroll fraud — being deployed against businesses… Watch now>>

      • How Banks And Credit Unions Can Build A Culture To Fight Fraud

        Among all the things we train our customers on here at AFS, teaching them the tips and tricks of catching deposit fraud is one of the most important. Read now>>

    • Webinars
      • ACH Payments: Preventing Fraud, Addressing Compliance

        Join AFS experts as they discuss the latest threats to faster payments; how to best safeguard ACH transitions; and what measures banks and credit unions can take to meet Nacha’s account validation requirements. Download Now>>

      • Protect Business Accounts Against Fraud

        In this webinar, the fraud experts at Advanced Fraud Solutions will explore the latest fraud tactics — including business email compromise, vendor and payroll fraud — being deployed against businesses and what financial institutions can do to help businesses proactively identify fraud, mitigate their losses and protect mobile deposits. Download Now>>

      • AFS Presents: Check Fraud Prevention 2021

        Fake check scams cases spiked in 2020. Fraud operators spied opportunities to accelerate their attacks and profit off of romance scams, secret shopper scams, unemployment scams and other fraud schemes. Download now>>

    • White Papers
      • The Changing Landscape Of Check Fraud

        In 2020, check fraud was down, due in part to branch closings and the migration to digital payment methods. Download now>>

      • Beating BIN Attacks: How To Protect Against Card-Not-Present Fraud

        Card-not-present fraud (CNP) continues to flourish. In fact, there’s been a 25% increase in exposed CNP records, a total of 45 million, since 2019. Download now>>

      • Protecting ACH Payments

        How do financial institutions, who increasingly rely on ACH, safeguard faster payments and stay in compliance with Nacha? AFS’ new report issues related to fraud and compliance have also become top-of-mind for financial institutions.  Download now>>

  • About AFS
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  • Schedule a Demo
Stopping Debit And Credit Card Fraud In Its Tracks

Stopping Debit And Credit Card Fraud In Its Tracks

The use of card payments grew in 2018 yet again. As you might expect, as the volumes of card payments have risen, so have the related fraud losses. For this reason, it’s more important than ever for financial institutions to have the proper policies and procedures in place to detect and eliminate debit and credit card fraud. FIs must stay in constant communication with their customers and members. What’s more, they should educate them on how they can join in the fight against debit and credit fraud.

Debit and Credit Card Fraud Trends and Schemes

In the world of plastic card fraud, the only constant is change. As payment cards continue to gain market share in the payments space, fraudsters are responding by  growing increasingly creative. These criminals will go to great lengths to steal assets from your financial institution and its cardholders. In the past couple of years, there’s been an evolution in card fraud. Here are the top 3 debit and credit card fraud trends and schemes:

Learn about TrueCards®

Fraud Trends:

  • Application Fraud
  • Transaction Fraud
  • New channels of point-of-sale fraud

Fraud Schemes:

  • Credit and Debit Card Chip Replacement
  • Debit and Credit Card Skimmers
  • Credit and Debit Card Cracking

The rise of more convenient, secure contactless payments

By now, most of us have used, or at least become aware of contactless cards. In 2018, the United States market was gradually introduced to “tap-and-pay” credit and debit cards. Due to the extreme convenience factor of these new cards, they are growing quickly as a preferred method of payment. In fact, according to a recent statement, Visa expects to issue more than 100 million contactless cards in 2019. If these predictions come true, contactless cards will represent about 12% of Visa’s overall portfolio. While these contactless cards may make things easier on the consumer at the point-of-sale, they also expose new avenues for fraudsters to exploit.

Contactless card payments fraud happens frequently, as criminals devise more and more ways to take advantage of this method.  In response, the contactless cards have been equipped with improved security features with several layers of protection to minimize the risks. The first layer of protection is EMV. The EMV standard was created to make forging cards very difficult. The second layer of protection is having unique, dynamic transaction data – each transaction generates a unique code. These codes are only good for one transaction, and contain no sensitive information.

The next layer of protection is authentication protocols. In combination with the unique transaction data, the card issuers have a powerful fraud detection system. This rejects any other transaction attempt made using the same code. Yet another advantage of these dynamic codes is that they obscure confidential cardholder information. By enabling this tokenization, your primary account number will be replaced by an encrypted number. This means when you are making transactions, the true details of the card are not sent. Instead, a token is sent consisting of 13 to 19 characters that act as a proxy for real account information.

Reducing Card Fraud at Financial Institutions

All financial institutions strive to keep fraud losses low. In order to accomplish this goal, financial institutions should keep in constant communication with their account holders, continually educate them on all things fraud, and have the proper fraud prevention tools in place.

Stay Connected and Educated

Communication with your customers and members is key. Having the proper fraud policies and procedures in place will help reduce and eliminate overall losses. Some best practices to reduce card fraud are:

  • Email/call/text alerts
  • Stop, block, and reissue as quickly as possible
  • Have a fraud hotline
  • Strong Customer Identification Process

It is also important for financial institutions to keep their customers and members educated and updated on current fraud schemes, trends, tactics, etc. Most consumers rely on their financial institution to provide them with peace of mind when it comes to their finances. Keep your consumers informed by providing free, accessible financial literacy either by email or on your website. Additionally, encourage consumers to take the proper steps to protect their identity and card credentials.

Debit and Credit Card Fraud in Action

Stealing card information using skimmers at gas pumps and ATMs may still be a problem, but fraudsters have become more sophisticated. Before, fraudsters would place a card skimmer over the card reader on ATMs and gas pumps, which would then transmit the stolen data wirelessly from the card’s magnetic strip. These criminals have come up with a new card fraud tool called “shimmers,” a tiny type of skimmer that is capable of reading the data from chip-based debit and credit cards. A shimmer sits between the chip on the card and the chip reader in an ATM or point-of-sale (POS) device. It then records the data on the chip as it is read by the underlying machine. Fraudsters can print this data onto fraudulent magstripe cards. They then use these cards at those points-of-sale which are not yet EMV enabled, or at which they can force what’s called a “fallback” transaction. Fallback transactions refer to those purchases made at a EMV-enabled merchant, using a fraudulent card that tricks the POS-device into believing the card’s chip to be bad, thus “falling back” onto the data from the magstripe.

Data breaches expose debit and credit card numbers to fraudsters

Another problem we face is the rising amount of data breaches. A data breach occurs when a cybercrimal successfully gains access and infiltrates a data source to extract sensitive information. While these breaches can take many forms and target a number of different types of information, plastic card numbers are one of the “usual suspects.” These breaches can occur either through the criminal physically breaching a machine or networking room, or through the fraudster bypassing network security remotely in order to gain access to valuable information. Cybercriminals will then take the stolen data and use it to make money by duplicating credit and debit cards, using any stolen personal information for fraud, identity theft, and even blackmail, and/or simply putting the information up for sale in bulk on Deep Web marketplaces.

These breaches have harmful effects for consumers and their financial institutions alike. When a data breach occurs, credit and debit cards are compromised, which means that financial institutions have to swallow significant cost to stop, block, and re-issue thousands of cards each year to their customers and members. Here are some of the most recent data breaches:

  • Quora breach
  • Marriot Starwood breach
  • Facebook breach

 Card Fraud in the Digital Underground

In this day and age, the internet is used for anything and everything. Whether it be paying bills, making purchases, or simply browsing the web to do research or pass the time, the internet is our playground. What consumers may not realize is that cybercriminals are lurking under the surface to steal their personal information while they conduct these daily tasks. Websites may be secure, but these criminals will go to great lengths to compromise these security features in order to steal any morsel of information from which they can derive financial gain. These criminals will then take the stolen information and put it on the Dark Web and Deep Web for other cybercrimals to buy and use.

The Deep Web is a subset of the internet that is not recorded or tracked by major search engines. The Dark Web is a subset of the Deep Web. This subset represents a major hub of identity theft, malware, and payments fraud activity. Cybercriminals frequent these sites, which are anonymous and inaccessible via normal web browsers, to buy and sell stolen identities, card numbers, and online banking credentials. If your institution is experiencing losses due to payment card fraud, wire fraud, or new account opening fraud, it is likely that many of those schemes originated on the Dark Web.

TrueCards and Q6 Cyber tackle fraud on the dark web

We all have private information that we think is kept to ourselves but unfortunately, that is not always the case. The scary reality is that consumers’ private information can easily be accessed by cybercriminals via the “Digital Underground,” which includes the Dark Web and Deep Web. AFS recently partnered with Q6 Cyber, a leading provider of cyber threat and anti-fraud intelligence software, to integrate their data feeds directly into our TrueCards® fraud prevention software platform. In partnering with Q6, there is greater potential for reducing fraud losses by giving your institution the ability to detect stolen data before any dollars go out the door. This integration between Q6 and TrueCards® helps your fraud prevention become both proactive and dynamic. 

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Learn how our powerful fraud prevention tools mitigate losses from check, card, or online banking transactions for banks and credit unions nationwide.

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  • Who We Work With
    • Credit Unions
    • Banks
    • Partners
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    • TrueChecks®
    • TrueCards®
    • Positive Pay by AFS
    • TrueACH® with Account Validation
  • Insights
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    • Case Studies
    • Articles
    • White Papers
    • Webinars
  • About AFS
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