Generative AI is making identity fraud and social engineering easier, cheaper and more scalable — especially through deepfakes, synthetic identities and other emerging AI-agent risks — so traditional ID verification is increasingly unreliable.

Discussing these challenges for banks on this episode of the ABA Fraudcast with Paul Benda of the American Bankers Association are Jeremy Grant of the Better Identity Coalition and John Carlson, senior vice president for cybersecurity regulation and resilience at the American Bankers Association.

Two recent papers are referenced in this episode: Mitigating AI-Powered Attacks Against Identity and Authentication, intended for financial institutions, cybersecurity and fraud professionals, AI service providers, telecommunications companies and policymakers at regulatory agencies and in legislative bodies who are responsible for safeguarding identity systems and mitigating the risks posed by Gen AI; and Recommendations for Policymakers: Mitigating AI-Powered Attacks Against Identity and Authentication, both authored by Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council's Artificial Intelligence and Identity and Authentication Workstream (AI-IA), which was co-chaired by the American Bankers Association and Better Identity Coalition.

For ABA's fraud prevention resources go to aba.com/protectyourmoney. ABA's scam prevention campaigns #BanksNeverAskThat and #PracticeSafeChecks are newly updated as well. The ABA Foundation's Protecting Older Americans page includes useful resources to assist the fight against elder financial exploitation and additional increasing threats.

ABA Fraudcast host is Paul Benda, EVP, risk, fraud and cybersecurity at American Bankers Association.

The federal government is on the hunt for financial system fraudsters. In 2017, the U.S. Secret Service criminal investigative division created the Global Investigative Operation Center, as a "support and coordination hub for large scale and multi-jurisdictional investigations," says Josh Fuerst, supervisory special agent for the USSS. On this episode of the ABA Fraudcast, Fuerst and ABA's Paul Benda discuss fraud trends such as impersonation of government employees and even of federal law enforcement.

For ABA's fraud prevention resources go to aba.com/protectyourmoney.

ABA's scam prevention campaigns #BanksNeverAskThat and #PracticeSafeChecks are newly updated as well. The ABA Foundation's Protecting Older Americans page includes useful resources to assist the fight against elder financial exploitation and additional increasing threats.

ABA Fraudcast host is Paul Benda, EVP, risk, fraud and cybersecurity at American Bankers Association.

Major tech platforms make billions of dollars from scammers who advertise on their sites, according to reporting from Reuters, and there's not much incentive for them to change their practices — yet. Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) have introduced the SCAM Act, which would take steps to tackle these scams. ABA strongly supports the SCAM Act, and on this crossover episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast and ABA Fraudcast, Paul Benda discusses:

• How the SCAM Act would introduce new know-your-customer and takedown requirements for tech platforms.
• Why there aren't sufficient existing incentives for platforms to deal with the deluge of scam ads.
• Enforcement mechanisms that give teeth to the SCAM Act's requirements.
• How ABA's advocacy on this issue fits into the association's overall anti-fraud agenda