Financial scams and fraud continue to grow in both volume and sophistication, driven by rapidly evolving criminal tactics and technologies. Recognizing the critical role that awareness and education play in strengthening fraud prevention, the Federal Reserve developed a series of Fraud Mitigation Toolkits—covering Account Takeover Fraud, Check Fraud, Scams and Synthetic Identity Fraud. These resources equip financial institutions and the industry with the knowledge needed to identify emerging threats, understand common red flags, and take informed steps to protect themselves and their customers in an increasingly complex payments landscape.
Account Takeover Fraud Mitigation Toolkit
The Account Takeover Fraud Mitigation Toolkit offers resources to help educate the industry and highlights strategies to help detect and mitigate this type of fraud when a criminal gains unauthorized access to a legitimate user account and exploits that access for fraudulent purposes.
Check Fraud Mitigation Toolkit
The Check Fraud Mitigation Toolkit provides educational resources and practical guidance to help mitigate the unauthorized use paper and electronic checks.
Scams Mitigation Toolkit
The Scams Mitigation Toolkit offers resources that raise awareness and equip the industry to combat criminals’ use of deception or manipulation for financial gain.
Synthetic Identity Fraud Mitigation Toolkit
The Synthetic Identity Fraud Mitigation toolkit provides resources for industry education to identify and prevent the use of a combination of personally identifiable information to fabricate a person or entity in order to commit a dishonest act for personal or financial gain.
“Education and awareness play an important role for financial institutions to build a strong defense against fraud. In cases of account takeovers, check fraud, scams and synthetic identity fraud, informed employees and customers can make a meaningful difference across the payments industry.”
Mike Timoney, Vice President of Payments System Improvement
Federal Reserve Financial Services
The account takeover fraud, check fraud, scams mitigation and synthetic identity fraud toolkits were developed by the Federal Reserve to help educate the industry about fraud and outline potential ways to help detect and mitigate it. Insights for these toolkits were provided through interviews with industry experts, publicly available research, and team member expertise. These toolkits are not intended to result in any regulatory or reporting requirements, imply any liabilities for fraud loss, or confer any legal status, legal definitions, or legal rights or responsibilities. While use of these toolkits throughout the industry is encouraged, utilization of the toolkits is voluntary at the discretion of each individual entity. Absent written consent, these toolkits may not be used in a manner that suggests the Federal Reserve endorses a third-party product or service.