Scams are a growing and costly problem (Off-site), and the payments industry can do more to address them.
Federal Reserve Financial Services is taking steps to improve scam mitigation by establishing two new work groups: a scams definition and classification work group (Off-site) and a scams information sharing work group (Off-site). Payments and fraud experts involved in these industry efforts will collaborate to tackle some of the key issues surrounding scams.
- Scams Definition and Classification Work Group: While there is rising concern about scams in the payments industry, accurate quantification remains challenging because of multiple operational definitions and a lack of consistency in existing scam classification approaches. This work group is dedicated to creating an industry-recommended operational definition of the term “scam” and building a classification structure. These can help provide a foundation for improved consistency and detail in both fraud classification and reporting of scams.
- Scams Information Sharing Work Group: One key approach to putting scams out of business (Off-site) is information sharing between organizations to improve fraud management strategies. This work group is focused on fostering collaboration among the industry to bring about voluntary and collective change in the fight against scams. Work group recommendations for approaches to information sharing are likely to include specific use cases, data types, methods and the benefits of sharing information.
Both the work groups will complement each other with a shared goal of supporting better mitigation of scams and moving the payments industry forward. Stay up to date on this and other collaborative efforts to improve payments security by becoming a member of the FedPayments Improvement Community (Off-site).
