Page 33 - Spring 2025

FLOURISH

Let’s come together to address fraud

“Some of the most effective approaches to fraud

prevention emerge through conversations about what

has worked within your banks.”

When it comes to fraud, it takes a village. solu�on to an immediate problem. It’s also
That may be in part because fraudsters this connec�on that enables you to alert one
con�nue to get more sophis�cated, and another to the latest scams and advise each
fraud’s effect on banking is skyrocke�ng. other on how to prevent losses for your
According to the Federal Trade Commission, customers and your banks.
consumers lost upwards of $12.5 billion to
ICBA Community (community.icba.org) offers
fraud in 2024—a 25% increase year over
a pla�orm to facilitate these conversa�ons in
year. Addi�onally, community banks ranked
a secure, digital fashion all year round.
cybersecurity as the highest internal risk to
REBECA their banks, notes the Conference of State Outside the individual rela�onships you have
ROMERO Banking Supervisors. with colleagues, ICBA Community allows you
to connect with new bankers, throw out a
RAINEY
Fortunately, the core pillars of ICBA— ques�on to see who’s experienced
ICBA President and CEO.
rebeca.romerorainey@icba.org educa�on, innova�on and advocacy—all something similar, share a strategy about
address fraud risks by providing informa�on, what worked in preven�ng an a�ack, and so
ACB is the ICBA
Arkansas state affiliate. tools and resources to circumvent moun�ng much more.
threats. We’re empowering you with
This spirit of helping one another makes
knowledge of the latest a�acks and ways to
community banking unique. We come
protect against them, technology solu�ons
together to offer advice and support for the
to employ to shield your organiza�ons, and
common good. Very few industries can point
connec�on to government agencies to
to the level of collec�ve posi�ve impact we
ensure just and fair fraud protec�ons, as well
have.
as collabora�ons to stop it in its tracks.
For fraud, that makes all the difference,
Case in point: Consider our partnership with
because fraud is everyone’s problem. To hit it
the U.S. Postal Inspec�on Service to combat
head on, we have to approach it holis�cally
the threat of check fraud. We are working
across the industry, taking advantage of all
together to deliver in-branch educa�onal
the tools in our toolboxes. It takes this
materials with step-by-step instruc�ons to
community of community bankers to make a
help consumers safeguard their financial
difference. Collec�vely, we will con�nue to
assets and respond if they experience this
have an impact, thwar�ng one fraud a�empt
type of fraud.
at a �me.
Yet, some of the most effec�ve approaches
____________________
to fraud preven�on emerge through
conversa�ons about what has worked within Where I’ll be this month
your banks. That firsthand knowledge goes a I will be attending ICBA’s Capital Summit
in Washington, D.C., May 12–15.
long way in providing a tried-and-true

Arkansas Community Banker | 33 | Spring 2025