Ask any credit union risk officer what keeps them up at night, and payment fraud will be near the top of the list.
Checks.
Cards.
ACH.
Mobile payments.
Every channel that your members use to move money has become a target, and the schemes hitting credit unions today look nothing like the fraud landscape from even three years ago.
You know that’s no exaggeration. Synthetic identities that use a real Social Security Number combined with fake personal information hit the payments world every day. AI-generated checks can pass visual inspection. RTP and FedNow move money faster than fraud teams can react. The tools bad actors use are evolving at the same pace as prevention and detection efforts, which means the arms race never ends.
The Problem With Playing Defense
Reactive mode worked reasonably well when fraud was slower and less sophisticated. It doesn’t work anymore.
Modern payment fraud requires modern defense, so we must understand how fraud happens today and where it’s headed next. Yes, we protect against modern fraud, like ACH and mobile payments, but even good ol’ check fraud isn’t going away. In fact, the Fed says despite the decreased use, the dollar value is increasing. Plus, counterfeit checks are up 32%, and check washing is up 21%.
For smaller credit unions especially, this creates real strain. Larger institutions can throw dedicated fraud analysts and expensive detection software at the problem. Smaller shops are often working with a handful of staff wearing multiple hats, trying to stay current on emerging schemes while also running daily operations. The knowledge gap between “what fraud looked like when I was trained” and “what fraud looks like right now” can be enormous.
The Need for Ongoing Payments Fraud Education
There is no single tool, policy or vendor relationship that solves payment fraud permanently. The schemes change too fast. What worked to stop check fraud last year might be irrelevant this year. What catches card fraud today won’t necessarily catch the next generation of card-not-present schemes.
That means credit union teams need continuous information they can act on every day. Staying current on emerging financial crimes, understanding new mitigation strategies and hearing directly from peers and experts seeing these schemes in real time is how credit unions stay ahead instead of perpetually catching up.
This education pays for itself. One prevented fraud loss, one caught synthetic identity, one blocked ACH scheme, often covers the cost of the training that helped a team recognize the red flags.
LaCorp’s Discount Code for Virtual Payments Fraud Symposium
If your credit union is looking for a deep dive into exactly these issues, our friends at the Southern Financial Exchange are hosting a virtual Payments Fraud Symposium on Oct. 15, 2026. The event covers modern payment fraud schemes across checks, cards, ACH and mobile channels, along with emerging financial crimes and the risk mitigation strategies credit unions need to stay current.
For credit unions ready to invest in their team’s fraud fluency, we’re sharing our discount code, CORPED19, for the SFE member rate. Learn more and register at SFE.org.