‘Us Against the Fraudsters’: Why Banks Can’t Go It Alone

Fraud doesn’t respect industry boundaries—and that’s exactly why banks can’t fight it alone. That was the message from a recent panel featuring leaders from the Federal Reserve, EverBank, and ProSight Financial Association. The session explored how financial institutions can collaborate more effectively with each other and with partners in telecom, social media, and government. Here are the practical insights that stood out: 

Start with a shared language. Inconsistent fraud classification slows down response times and clouds the big picture. That’s why the Fed worked with industry stakeholders to create the FraudClassifier and ScamClassifier models. “If everyone is speaking the same language, the way that we can tackle fraud becomes more accurate,” said Staci Shatsoff, assistant vice president for secure payments at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The models are payment-agnostic and designed for flexibility, offering banks a structured way to pinpoint root causes and trends. 

Scams don’t start at the bank. “Most scams … start in the social media world,” said Patrick McDade, fraud risk management director at EverBank. Criminals lure victims via social platforms or phone, and by the time they interact with the bank, the deception is already done. Banks can’t build effective defenses alone. ”We need the help of the telecoms. We need the help of the social media groups,” McDade said. His advice: Create stronger links with those sectors, and push for shared intelligence. 

Collaboration must scale to all banks. Fraud affects institutions of every size. While larger banks may lead on advanced tools, McDade noted that “we do share resources within banks a lot, through both formal channels and through less formal channels.” He emphasized the importance of real-time outreach among fraud professionals across institutions and noted that many consortium-based tools offer pricing models that let smaller banks tap into big-bank-level insights without needing the same scale or budget. 

Education still matters. McDade called for a national fraud awareness campaign—something like a “Smokey Bear” for scams. The message should come from government and industry alike to avoid spooking customers while delivering timely, consistent advice. 

Information sharing is the missing link. ProSight’s Isio Nelson summed it up well: “It’s us against the fraudsters, not us against each other.” Members of his team are building the soon-to-be-released Fraud Alert Network, a platform for authenticated information sharing, including contact directories, incident threads, and real-time alert capabilities. The goal? Help banks identify and contain fraud before it spreads. 

The bottom line: If scammers are sharing tactics and tools, banks need to share intelligence just as quickly—and just as broadly. Learn more.