When it comes to fraud, the game has changed. You may have spent countless hours reviewing statistics, creating strategies and running various options, but suddenly, you've found yourself competing against an entirely different opponent. One with which you are unfamiliar, one that doesn't play by the same rules and one that appears to outmatch you.

But, before you and your teammates count yourselves out, remember that history is replete with examples of underdogs triumphing in challenging situations time and time again.

The current fraud environment can be characterized as unstable and complicated. Attacks on data are becoming more sophisticated. In today's environment, it is harder than ever for consumers to protect their credit and debit cards because crooks have access to more data than ever before. Fraudsters are using data to engineer around defenses that have been in place for years. The focus used to be on merchants with weak security environments that made it easy to retrieve account numbers. Over time, crooks figured out they could access other information while they were there – addresses, security codes, Social Security numbers. They started seeking out non-traditional targets like healthcare providers to get their hands on as much data as possible, and they started matching that data with account numbers. Thanks to access to all of this combined data, fraudsters are now able to get institutions to take action on accounts they would not have been able to in the past.