The Front Lines of Check Fraud

Automated check fraud detection is no longer relegated to a Day 2, back office process.  For many years SOFTPRO has been providing banks with a robust, back office, lights-out method of identifying potential fraudulent items with our FraudOne solution.  Today, banks are offering many new services to their clients making it easier to do business with the institution.  At the same time, these new services ignite new forms of check fraud which require enhanced detection and prevention techniques.

The ideal situation is to prevent or catch check fraud when it is initially attempted.  The teller line is the most obvious and traditional point where fraudulent items are first presented for cash.  If not already, most banks are deploying check scanners at the teller line to facilitate check processing and the movement/availability of funds.  With this technology in place, check images can be passed instantaneously to FraudOne for immediate analysis with a resultant message back to the teller indicating whether the item is a potential fraud.  The opportunity for loss prevention is significant when you can prevent the cash ever leaving the bank by identifying fraud at the point of occurence.

The challenge of check fraud is building as banks offer advanced services to their clients.  For example, many ATMs today have the ability to scan checks as they are inserted.  No longer are they put in an envelope that is picked up and delivered to a processing center to be opened, data entered, and scanned; it happens immediately at the ATM.  Just as it occurs at the teller line, the image and data are captured to expedite the processing and availability of funds.

Still further, bank applications on smartphones and slate computers enable clients to capture the front and back image of a check and send it wirelessly, and therefore instantaneously, to the bank as a deposit.  The customer has great convenience and service with this capability, but the bank is further exposed to fraudsters.

Whether the check is captured at an ATM or smartphone, FraudOne again can be leveraged to analyze the item automatically and respond back to the bank’s early warning systems, ATM, or mobile device with an appropriate, bank defined response should fraud be detected.

Check Fraud can and should be detected at the front lines.  As banks continue to add new and innovative services, the front lines are shifting.  This, however, should not prevent banks from expanding the use of check fraud detection and prevention solutions to these new transaction points.  When implemented, financial institutions have the opportunity to detect and prevent check fraud from ever occurring – reducing check fraud write-offs significantly.

To discuss your company’s check fraud needs, Contact Us.

You may peruse SOFTPRO’s website for additional information on fraud prevention.