PSCU Says it Stopped $210 Million in Possible Fraud in 2018

St. Petersburg, Fla. based payments CUSO PSCU reported it stopped over $210 million in potential fraud in 2018 for its members at the point-of-sale, call centers and online, among other channels.

PSCU’s said through sustained investment in best-in-class fraud-fighting tools and a staff focus to ensure best practices, its proactive fraud prevention technologies, processes and policies yielded a fraud loss to sales ratio of 4.31 basis points during 2018.

“Throughout 2018, PSCU furthered our commitment to investing in the strongest risk management practices and tools available in order to protect our owners and their members from the potential financial and reputational damage associated with fraudulent activity,” Jack Lynch, PSCU SVP, chief risk officer, said. “The millions of dollars PSCU secures on behalf of our owners’ members is proof that the solutions and methods we are deploying are not only effective at saving money, but also key in keeping member information confidential and safe.”

The CUSO held its data scientists are key to the success of PSCU’s fraud-fighting initiatives and solutions. Their internal team of experts takes data from multiple sources and then connects the dots between product usages to identify potential entry ways for fraudsters.

PSCU also noted it continues to invest in a number of tools to better protect its owners and their members from increasingly sophisticated fraudsters. In 2017, PSCU began to utilize Atlanta based voice authentication firm Pindrop’s proprietary platform to combat call center fraud. In 2018, the CUSO said it secured an estimated $8 million in savings through this platform and was able to proactively block attempted call center scams and move quickly to protect available credit of those accounts from potential fraud loss.

Since its unveiling last April, PSCU’s Linked Analysis has helped secure more than $7.3 million by preventing fraud before it happens, according to the Florida CUSO. Linked Analysis, developed by PSCU’s in-house experts, uses cross-network analytics to create a 360-degree view of members, enabling PSCU to look at members’ activity across different platforms, different institutions and merchants across any card. Data scientists and machine learning use the data to identify linkages, compromises, breaches and common points of purchases.

In November 2018, PSCU added another tool in its fraud-fighting arsenal with the addition of Atlanta-based First Data’s FirstSense, which allows PSCU Owners to identify at-risk payment cards and prevent fraud before it happens. By leveraging threat intelligence and analytics garnered from the dark web, PSCU said it helped stop a reported $2 million in fraud at the point-of-sale since November. This reflected the actual transaction amount PSCU prevented fraudsters from being able to complete.

In addition, PSCU partnered with Santa Clara, Calif.-based Ondot, a provider of mobile payments services, in August 2018, to further enhance the credit union member experience through a comprehensive alerts and controls solution. PSCU stated owner credit unions choosing to implement the solution can expect to see lower fraud losses with card controls and real-time alerts which, on average, and reduce the number of fraud attempts before action is taken from 2.87 to 1.05.

“Fraud will continue to be one of the top concerns for credit unions in 2019,” Lynch added. “PSCU is dedicated to delivering fraud-fighting solutions and expertise to our owners in order to provide their members with the most secure payment options on the market and allow for sound decision-making to keep their information and finances protected and safe.”