What does fighting check fraud cost banks? How do banks find success in that struggle? In the latest episode of the ABA Fraudcast, ABA’s Paul Benda continues to explore the challenges of a metastasizing problem for banks, with his guest Sam Drennen, EVP and COO of First American Bank and Trust in Georgia. Drennen discusses ways his bank has learned hard lessons defending against criminals focused on a payment mode that has resisted extermination. The  ABA Fraudcast will be published every three weeks on this site, in ABA Daily Newsbytes and wherever you listen to and subscribe to your favorite podcasts. Check out important ABA resources on this topic for banks at aba.com/checkfraud. The recently remodeled ABA Communities provide opportunities to share insights and resources with fellow bankers. 

The big story of check fraud is not only its vast cost to the country and to individual victims, but simply the remarkable rate at which it is increasing. On this episode of the ABA Fraudcast, ABA's Paul Benda discusses with Caitlin Piasecki of the United States Postal Inspection Service the enormous scale and challenge of addressing mail theft, a common venue for criminals to get their hands on paper checks. The ABA Fraudcast will be published every two weeks, on this site, in ABA Daily Newsbytes and wherever you listen to and subscribe to your favorite podcasts.

In a world where artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing from a distant dream technology to an accessible tool of working and consumer life, criminals have certainly noticed. On this episode of the ABA Fraudcast, test your discerning skills at identifying who is real and who is AI. Impersonating the voices of even familiar people to us is rapidly becoming a new type of threat that will be difficult to stop. 

Community banks can be targets of large-scale fraud, just like larger banks. On the inaugural episode of the ABA Fraudcast, former ABA Chair Dan Robb, president and CEO of Jonesburg State Bank in Missouri, describes the recent targeting of his bank by fraudsters who texted thousands of residents of his community, seeking access to customer accounts. What followed for Robb and his team were fast lessons on all the areas his bank was prepared for, and a few challenges that were surprising. “We are no longer dealing with a mom-and-pop criminal,” says ABA’s Paul Benda, Fraudcast host. “This is institutional crime.”

The brand new ABA Fraudcast will be published every two weeks, on this site, in ABA Daily Newsbytes and wherever you listen to and subscribe to your favorite podcasts.

Stay tuned for a new show from the American Bankers Association. Hosted by cybersecurity and anti-fraud leader Paul Benda, the ABA Fraudcast will bring you expert insights, tools and strategies to help fight fraud every two weeks.

Paul Benda returns with the ABA Pandemic Update after a three week break to account for a spring break family trip to Greece returns. Benda reports they made the trip COVID-free. On this episode, he talks about a recent rise in cases, new BA.2 variants, fourth doses and improved booster shots, the dropping of mask mandates, and what the next few weeks and months may look like.

In the latest episode of the biweekly Pandemic Update podcast, ABA SVP Paul Benda discusses cases plateauing nationally but rising in 15 states, second booster shots and when to get them, virus mutations, some good news on recovered immunity and things to look for in the future.

In the latest episode of the biweekly Pandemic Update podcast, ABA SVP Paul Benda discusses the continued drop of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., the rise in cases in Europe, a new “scariant” Deltacron, vaccines and treatments for children and the news from Asia. Benda also talks about if the country has reached the point where COVID-19 is less deadly than the flu.

In the latest episode of the weekly Pandemic Update podcast, ABA SVP Paul Benda discusses further downward trends of COVID-19 cases, whether BA.2 or the stealth variant is likely to change those trends, omicron hospitalization data for children, good and bad news on the value of recovered immunity, third dose booster waning, the value of fourth doses, and the future of the podcast.