Fraud Forward

Hailey Windham
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Fraud Forward is a banking-focused podcast bringing together fraud fighters, risk leaders, and financial crime experts to explore how fraud is evolving, and how financial institutions must adapt. Each episode features practical, candid conversations with teams in the trenches, covering strategy, governance, prevention, and recovery. Rather than chasing headlines, Fraud Forward focuses on what’s working, what’s changing, and what fraud leaders need to prepare for as financial crime accelerates. This is where banking comes together to challenge assumptions, pressure-test controls, and move fraud forward.

  1. Accelerate What, Exactly? The Fraud Side of Fintech Innovation

    1 day ago

    Accelerate What, Exactly? The Fraud Side of Fintech Innovation

    What’s up, fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! This conversation is one I think a lot of us need right now. Financial services are moving fast. Fintech innovations, AI in financial services, real-time payments, embedded finance, digital assets, and payment systems modernization are all changing how institutions serve members and customers. And let me just assure you, fraud fighters are not anti-innovation. We are not the department of no. We are the people who know what happens when fintech innovation moves faster than controls, when fintech compliance is treated like a checklist, and when fraud risk management gets discussed only after something has already gone wrong. In this episode, I sit down with Nyla Cortes to talk through what fintech innovations really mean for credit unions, community banks, fraud teams, BSA officers, compliance leaders, and frontline staff trying to protect people in real time. Because behind every fraud case is a customer. A member. A family. Someone whose trust, dignity, and financial stability may be permanently affected. That is why this conversation matters. What you’ll hear in this episode:A practical look at how fintech innovations are changing fraud risk inside financial institutionsWhy modernization creates opportunity, but also expands the attack surfaceWhat AI governance in financial services needs to look like before something goes wrongHow AI in financial services can support fraud prevention strategies when governance is built inWhy real-time payments require real-time fraud operationsHow fintech partnerships and third-party risk management can introduce hidden exposureWhy fintech risk management has to include fraud, compliance, BSA, AML, operations, and frontline teamsWhat community bank fintech adoption looks like when resources are already stretchedWhy operational readiness matters before losses show up on a reportHow we can support fintech fraud prevention without forgetting the people impacted by crime This is not a political conversation. It is not a vendor pitch. It is a practical, honest conversation about what it takes to modernize responsibly. Who should listen:This episode is for the fraud fighters doing the work every day. Fraud directors and fraud analystsBSA and AML officersRisk and compliance leadersCommunity bank and credit union teamsFrontline tellers and member service representativesVendor risk and fintech partnership teamsCybersecurity and payments professionalsRegulators and policy advisorsAnyone trying to balance fintech innovation, fraud prevention strategies, consumer protection, and operational reality If you are sitting inside a smaller institution thinking, “Holy moly, we are being asked to move faster, but we do not have the same resources as the big banks,” I want you to hear me. You are not behind because you are doing something wrong. You are operating in an environment where fintech innovations are accelerating faster than the resources available to manage the risk. And that means we have to get very intentional. Show Notes: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/integrating-financial-technology-innovation-into-regulatory-frameworks/https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/05/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-integrates-financial-technology-innovation-into-regulatory-frameworks/https://www.sardine.ai/whitepapers/the-agentic-ai-oversight-framework

    56 min
  2. Fraud as Infrastructure

    27 May

    Fraud as Infrastructure

    What’s up, fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! I want to take a moment and talk about something bigger than one scam trend, one crypto headline, or one fraud typology. We are talking about fraud as infrastructure. Because what we are seeing right now is not isolated activity. Organized fraud networks are operating like coordinated systems, connecting pig butchering scams, social engineering scams, mule accounts, crypto money laundering, fraud and AML gaps, and national security and financial crime concerns. And y’all, this matters because behind every case is a real person. Someone’s retirement. Someone’s trust. Someone’s financial stability. Someone who was manipulated by a criminal network long before the money ever moved. What you’ll hear in this episode:Why fraud as infrastructure changes how we need to think about financial crimeHow organized fraud networks are using scam infrastructure, mule accounts, and crypto money launderingWhy pig butchering scams and social engineering scams are not simple one-off casesWhere financial institutions are making progress in fraud prevention and scam preventionWhy fraud investigations need stronger collaboration across fraud, AML, cybercrime, and law enforcementHow public-private partnerships can help close the gaps criminals are exploitingWhat fraud fighters can take back to their teams as organized fraud becomes more connected Who should listen:Financial institution leaders and fraud professionalsRisk, compliance, fraud and AML, and cybersecurity teamsBSA officers and fraud investigatorsRegulators and policy advisorsPublic-private partnership leadersVictim support and advocacy professionalsAnyone trying to understand how organized fraud impacts real people Fraud does not live in silos, and neither should our solutions.

    14 min
  3. Payment Fraud Prevention and the Future of Trust

    21 May

    Payment Fraud Prevention and the Future of Trust

    What’s up, fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! I wanted to do something different for our 100th episode. I didn’t want a victory lap. I wanted an honest conversation about payment fraud prevention, where our systems feel fragile, and whether we are building financial infrastructure worthy of public trust. I brought together Karisse Hendrick, Becky Reed, David Maimon, and Jeff Taylor to talk about what fraud fighters are seeing across banking, payments, e-commerce, digital assets, and fraud research. Fraud is moving fast. Payments are moving faster. AI fraud detection and AI fraud prevention are becoming more important every day. Institutions are trying to balance innovation, regulation, speed, and protection all at once. This conversation is not just about payment fraud detection or payment risk management. Behind every account takeover fraud event, business email compromise attack, wire fraud case, ACH fraud prevention gap, or social engineering fraud scheme is a real person, a real business, and a real loss of trust. What you’ll hear in this episode:How faster payments are changing real-time payment fraud preventionWhy payment fraud detection must move beyond isolated incidentsHow AI fraud prevention, AI fraud detection, behavioral biometrics, and device intelligence are changing fraud strategyWhy business email compromise, check fraud, wire fraud prevention, ACH fraud prevention, and account takeover fraud remain major concernsHow digital payment fraud is evolving across banks, merchants, marketplaces, and digital asset railsWhy social engineering fraud continues to exploit trust, emotion, and human behaviorWhat collaboration, fraud education, and payment risk management need to look like moving forward Who should listen:Fraud fighters across banking, fintech, payments, and e-commerceFinancial institution leaders and fraud professionalsRisk, compliance, cybersecurity, and payment operations teamsTeams focused on real-time payment fraud preventionProfessionals working on ACH fraud prevention, wire fraud prevention, and account takeover fraudLeaders evaluating AI fraud prevention, behavioral biometrics, device intelligence, and fraud orchestrationAnyone who cares about protecting trust in financial services

    55 min

  4. 13 May

    Future of Fraud Operations: We Can’t Fight This Alone

    What’s up, fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! In part one, you heard fraud fighters describe the current state of fraud with words like acceleration, chaos, fractured, and explosive. And honestly, none of those felt exaggerated. But in this episode, I wanted to ask a different question. Not just what fraud feels like right now, but what teams are doing that they are actually proud of. And that is where the conversation shifted. Instead of only hearing about pressure and burnout, I started hearing about collaboration, communication, empathy, innovation, and people who are trying to figure this out together in real time. That is what stood out to me most at Fraud Fight Club this year. Not just the tools. Not just the AI in fraud prevention conversations. Not even just the tactics. The people. This episode is really about the future of fraud operations. And if there is one thing that came through loud and clear, it is this: we cannot fight this alone anymore. What you’ll hear in this episode:Why fraud prevention in banking is becoming more collaborativeHow fraud and AML collaboration is helping teams see more of the full pictureWhy 314(b) information sharing matters in today’s fraud environmentHow fraud prevention strategy is shifting from reactive detection to proactive preventionWhy human-centered fraud prevention and empathy in fraud investigations still matterHow fraud prevention technology and fraud analytics are changing the way teams workWhat fraud prevention professionals are doing right now to build stronger networks You should listen to this episode if:You work in banking fraud detection or fraud risk managementYou are trying to improve fraud decisioning inside your institutionYou care about real-time fraud prevention and operational responseYou want to understand where credit union fraud prevention is headingYou believe collaboration is no longer optional in fraud operations If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and review the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps with getting the word out.

    37 min
  5. The State of Fraud in One Word

    6 May

    The State of Fraud in One Word

    What’s up fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! I asked a room full of fraud professionals one question: describe the current state of fraud in one word. And the answers? Acceleration. Chaos. Explosive. Scary. Unmanageable. No one said stable. No one said under control. So in this episode, I’m breaking down what those answers tell us about evolving fraud trends, the current fraud landscape, and the pressure fraud teams are feeling across banking, financial services, and every channel where fraud is moving faster than our systems were built to handle. This isn’t just about the latest fraud trends. This is about fraud attack evolution, AI-driven fraud attacks, organized fraud trends, and the operational reality of trying to protect real people in real time. What you will hear in this episode:A structured breakdown of evolving fraud trends from fraud professionals on the front linesA look at the latest fraud trends shaping banking, payments, and financial servicesInsight into how AI-driven fraud attacks and automation are accelerating scam operationsDiscussion of cross-channel fraud trends, from impersonation scams to social engineering fraud trendsA focused look at fraud operations trends and why teams feel more reactive than proactivePractical fraud prevention strategy insights for adapting to faster, more coordinated attacksA call for stronger collaboration, benchmarking, and shared intelligence across the fraud ecosystem This is one of those episodes where we move from what fraud feels like to what we actually need to do about it. Who should listen:Financial institution leaders and fraud professionalsRisk, compliance, and cybersecurity teamsFraud operations, payments, and product leadersBanking and credit union teams tracking fraud trends in financial servicesIndustry advocates and fraud community membersAnyone trying to understand modern fraud trends and how fast they are changing If you’re in this space and you’ve felt that pressure, this episode is for you. Because we’re all dealing with it. Links: FI Benchmarking Survey Link: https://form.typeform.com/to/WqJf9uqb

    10 min
  6. There’s No Such Thing as “Just a Teller”

    29 Apr

    There’s No Such Thing as “Just a Teller”

    What’s up, fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! Before I was sitting in fraud strategy conversations, before I was talking about controls, governance, and layered defenses, before any of this, I was on the teller line. Face-to-face with members. Balancing speed, service, and that gut feeling when something just didn’t sit right. And I’m telling you right now, that experience shaped everything I understand about teller fraud prevention today. Because here’s the reality we don’t talk about enough. We’re building smarter systems. We’re investing in AI. We’re moving toward real-time monitoring and faster payments. And fraud is still scaling right alongside it. The latest IC3 report made that very clear. The numbers are growing. The losses are growing. And if we’re being honest, part of the problem is that we’re underestimating one of the most powerful fraud prevention tools we already have, our frontline. This episode is about resetting that perspective. It’s about recognizing that fraud isn’t just happening in data. It’s happening in behavior. In hesitation. In subtle shifts that no system can fully capture yet. And that is exactly where teller fraud prevention becomes critical. Here is what that frontline-first fraud prevention mindset means in practice:· Recognizing that behavioral signals are often the earliest fraud indicators · Treating frontline staff as active participants in fraud risk management · Bridging the gap between transaction data and real-world interaction · Building fraud prevention strategy around human insight, not just automation What you’ll hear in this episode:· Why teller fraud prevention is one of the most underutilized controls in banking · How frontline fraud detection captures signals that systems miss · A real-world scenario showing how behavioral fraud detection plays out · Why fraud prevention in banking must include human interaction layers · How financial institution fraud controls fail without frontline input You should listen to this episode if you:· Work in fraud risk management and want stronger frontline fraud detection · Are building a fraud prevention strategy in banking and need better alignment · Oversee teller teams or call centers and want to improve fraud awareness · Have seen fraud slip through despite strong systems and controls · Want to understand how human fraud detection signals impact real outcomes If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and review the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps with getting the word out.

    25 min
  7. Fraud Fight Club Debrief w/Karisse Hendrick and Jen Lamont

    22 Apr

    Fraud Fight Club Debrief w/Karisse Hendrick and Jen Lamont

    What’s up, fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! This Fraud Fight Club recap is one I have been wanting to put down in words because some events are just conferences, and some events remind you exactly why this work matters. This one brought together fraud fighters from across the industry, from brand-new practitioners to people who have shaped this space for years, and it created the kind of honest, useful, human conversations that do not happen nearly enough. This was not just another event where people showed up, swapped business cards, sat through panels, and flew home. Yes, there were sessions. Yes, there were deep dives. Yes, there were a lot of smart people in the room. But what stayed with me was the heart behind it. The honesty. The humility. The willingness to share what is not working, not just what sounds good on stage. In this episode, I sat down with Hailey Windham and Jen Lamont after a packed few days in Charlotte to talk through what stood out, what hit hard, and what still has me thinking. We talked about the sessions, about the conversations happening in the hallways, the sidebars, the debriefs, and the moments that make you stop and think, okay, this industry is changing. We got into the real heart of Fraud Fight Club, the energy behind it, the collaboration, the pattern recognition, and the reminder that anti-fraud collaboration is not a nice idea anymore. It is a requirement. And honestly, this conversation also went somewhere deeper. We talked about scam awareness through the lens of victim stories that were impossible to shake. We talked about first-party fraud and a case that showed what can happen when investigation, collaboration, and persistence all line up. We talked about ghost tapping fraud, chargeback fraud, and the very real sense that fraud fighters are trying to move faster in an environment where fraudsters still have fewer constraints than the rest of us. This is one of those episodes where the big takeaway is not just “here is what happened at a fraud conference.” It is bigger than that. It is about what happens when the people who care deeply about scam prevention, financial institution fraud, and banking fraud get in the same room and stop pretending they can solve it alone. Here is what that collaborative fraud-fighting mindset means in practice:It means making room for new fraud fighters, not just established voices.It means learning from victim stories without turning their pain into a talking point.It means sharing tactics, trends, and blind spots across institutions instead of guarding information too tightly.It means recognizing that fraud industry networking only matters if it turns into action after the event ends. What you’ll hear in this episode:Why Fraud Fight Club feels different from other fraud conferencesWhat Tracy Hall’s story revealed about the emotional and systemic toll of scamsWhy scam awareness and victim advocacy have to be part of any serious fraud prevention conference conversationWhat stood out in Jen Lamont’s first-party fraud case with Marc EvansWhy ghost tapping fraud is still creating confusion for financial institutionsHow chargeback fraud, merchant fraud, and issuer-side fraud strategy connect more than people realizeWhy anti fraud collaboration is becoming one of the most important shifts in the industryHow Merchant Fraud Alliance fits into the bigger picture from here You should listen to this episode if you:Work in financial institution fraud and want a sharper sense of where the industry is headingCare about scam prevention and want a more human conversation about romance scam victim advocacyAre trying to understand why first-party fraud and ghost tapping fraud keep surfacing in the same broader fraud conversationsWant a real fraud event recap that goes deeper than “these were the sessions”Believe fraud industry networking should lead to actual progress, not just more business cards If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and review the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps with getting the word out.

    58 min
  8. The Gaps We Create: Controls, Strategy, and Process Misalignment w/ Angela Diaz

    15 Apr

    The Gaps We Create: Controls, Strategy, and Process Misalignment w/ Angela Diaz

    What’s up, fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! In this episode, I’m sitting down with Angela Diaz to talk about something that sounds simple on the surface, but honestly, it creates more fraud gaps than a lot of teams realize. We throw around terms like controls, strategy, and process all the time in fraud operations. We say them like they mean the same thing. They do not. And when we start treating them like they are interchangeable, that is exactly where things begin to break down. This conversation came directly from Angela, and I loved that immediately because when a practitioner says, “we need to talk about this,” that usually means there is something real happening inside fraud programs right now. And this one is real. I have seen it. You have probably seen it too. Teams are busy, alerts are firing, processes are moving, and yet losses are still getting through. That is usually not because nobody cares. It is because the foundation is off. So this episode is really about getting back to basics in the best possible way. We slow down and separate fraud controls from fraud strategy and from fraud processes, because if we cannot define those correctly, we are going to build the rest of the fraud program on top of confusion. And once that happens, fraudsters do what they always do. They find the gap and they use it. What you’ll hear in this episode:The real difference between fraud controls, fraud strategy, and fraud processesWhy preventative vs detective controls matter more than most teams realizeHow process mapping in fraud helps expose operational fraud gapsWhy control performance monitoring needs to be part of every fraud risk management conversationWhat the Chase check fraud incident shows us about fraud loss prevention controlsHow fraud leaders can tell whether they have a true layered approach or just more stuffWhy fraud monitoring needs to connect back to strategy, not just activityWhere process gaps in banking show up in ATM fraud controls, payments risk controls, and check fraud control in bankingWhy vendor management fraud risk and lack of line of sight create another layer of exposure You should listen to this episode if:You work in fraud operations and feel like your team is doing a lot but still not getting ahead of lossYou are trying to mature your fraud program and need clearer thinking around financial institution fraud controlsYou are working on a fraud risk assessment and need a better way to think about risk entry pointsYou know your team has processes in place, but you are not sure whether they are actually functioning like controlsYou want a more practical way to think about fraud control strategy in banking without making it overly complicated Subscribe and stay connectedIf this episode makes you pause and rethink something in your own program, send it to your team. Really. Start the conversation. Pressure test the way controls, strategy, and process actually show up in your environment. And if you want more of these real conversations, make sure you are subscribed to Fraud Forward and signed up for the Monday Fraud Fix.

    58 min
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About

Fraud Forward is a banking-focused podcast bringing together fraud fighters, risk leaders, and financial crime experts to explore how fraud is evolving, and how financial institutions must adapt. Each episode features practical, candid conversations with teams in the trenches, covering strategy, governance, prevention, and recovery. Rather than chasing headlines, Fraud Forward focuses on what’s working, what’s changing, and what fraud leaders need to prepare for as financial crime accelerates. This is where banking comes together to challenge assumptions, pressure-test controls, and move fraud forward.

Information

  • Creator
    Hailey Windham
  • Years Active
    2k
  • Episodes
    105
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Hailey Windham
  • Show Website
    Fraud Forward