Fraudology Podcast with Karisse Hendrick

Welcome back to Fraudology. Since I’ve been back from SardineCon, I’ve thought about how much faster and cheaper AI is making fraud. That thread runs through basically everything I’m covering today. I’m digging into a new report from Inscribe showing a 4X increase in AI generated documents. I’ll walk through the difference between a document that’s built entirely by AI and one that’s a real document with AI alterations. Because they are not the same problem. Then we will go deep on a digital arrest scam, and this is the one I really want you to sit with. Frank McKenna has been predicting digital arrests would hit the US for almost a year. I found a first person account from a woman who got a call claiming to be from her local sheriff’s department. What happened to her over the next several hours is genuinely hard to listen to. I think this is one every fraud fighter needs to be able to explain to the people in their own life who aren’t in this industry. Along the way, I’m covering a case out of Spain where a man was arrested for using deepfakes to get past identify verification checks, a new report on Grok deepfakes, and a study out of UMass on zombie credit cards. Which is a real NFC fraud loophole. It’s a lot but stick with me. What you’ll hear: A quick recap of SardineCon 2026 and why AI was the theme of nearly every conversation I had there Inscribe's new fraud report showing a 4X increase in AI generated documents, and why bank statement fraud, fake invoices, and fake pay stubs make up more than half of what they're catching The difference between AI generated documents and AI altered ones, and why the altered ones are actually harder to catch How synthetic identity fraud and first party fraud both show up in lending fraud, even when the person applying is real A case out of Spain where deepfakes almost got a man through identity verification, until a one second glitch gave him away A new report on Grok deepfakes and what it means that one platform is tied to the majority of tracked incidents A UMass study on zombie credit cards and the NFC fraud loophole that can bring expired cards back to life The full, first person story of a digital arrest scam, including the jury duty scam call, someone impersonating law enforcement, a bond scam demand, and a PayPal fraud payment that couldn't be undone You should listen to this episode if you: Want to understand what a digital arrest scam actually sounds like from the inside Are in lending, underwriting, or KYC and need to know how bank statement fraud and fake pay stubs are evolving Want to know the real difference between synthetic identity fraud and first party fraud Have family members who don’t work in fraud and need a real example to help them recognize a jury duty scam or someone impersonating law enforcement Are tracking deepfakes and want to know where Grok deepfakes fit into the bigger picture Process card not present or in person transactions and haven't heard about the zombie credit card loophole yet

Welcome back to Fraudology. I have to tell you I’m genuinely excited about this one. Today’s guest was highly recommended by Matt Vega, someone whose opinion I trust completely in this industry. By the time we finally hit record, we’d already been talking for 45 minutes off air. That’s a pretty good sign this episode is going to deliver. Cy Khormaee spent years at Google, building out what eventually became the company’s user protection platform and the technology that now runs quietly in the background protecting billions of devices worldwide from phishing and malware. He took that experience and eventually founded Aegis.AI, and he just got back from Black Hat, which means he is walking into this conversation with a front-row view of exactly where adversarial AI is heading next. What I wasn’t fully prepared for was how far he was willing to take the demonstration. Cy didn’t just tell me adversarial AI is a growing thread, he showed me, live. Using nothing more than ChatGPT and information freely available online. It’s the kind of moment that changes how you think about a threat you thought you already understood. We cover a lot of ground in this one. And if you work in fraud, trust and safety, or security in any capacity, this is one you’ll want to sit with. What you’ll hear in this episode: Cy's path from Google's user protection platform, home of reCAPTCHA and Safe Browsing, to founding Aegis.AI, and how credential stuffing defense evolved into a hundred-million-dollar business. A live ChatGPT phishing demo where Cy used open source intelligence to research himself and generate a convincing, contextualized phishing email and matching fake conference website in minutes. Why AI phishing attacks have moved from theoretical to fully operational, with real-world state actor phishing tactics now automatable at near-zero cost. The staggering AI phishing email bypass rate statistics: over 50% of emails now slip past existing security email filter bypass controls. Why AI red team fraud thinking, treating AI as a gardener to nurture rather than a carpenter to micromanage, changes how fraud and security teams should actually deploy these tools. How the real Robinhood phishing attack shows why login fraud detection signals and upstream fraud detection AI matter more than ever. Why fraud and cybersecurity convergence isn't optional anymore, and how fraud data sharing across teams closes gaps that adversaries are actively exploiting. How automated sandboxing fraud detection can catch attacks before a user ever clicks, and why carding attack prevention and account takeover detection increasingly rely on the same signals as cybersecurity teams. You should listen to this episode if you: Work in fraud, trust and safety, or security and want to understand how adversarial AI is changing social engineering and phishing attacks. Are responsible for account takeover detection, credential stuffing detection, or synthetic identity risk at a bank, fintech, or merchant. Assumed business email compromise had been mostly solved and need a reality check. Are evaluating AI fraud investigation automation tools and want a clearer sense of what can realistically be automated today. Are trying to build the case internally for fraud and cybersecurity convergence and fraud data sharing across teams.

Welcome back to Fraudology. Today's a solo episode built around a study that puts a real number on something fraud leaders have been debating for years: does organizational convergence for fraud actually move the needle on performance, or is it just an org chart trend? For years, we've all benchmarked ourselves the same way. Approval rate here, chargeback rate there, maybe a manual review rate if we're being thorough. But the problem I've seen play out in company after company is this: optimize your approval rate, and your chargeback rate quietly creeps up. Optimize your chargeback rate by blocking more, and your approval rate takes the hit. You're never seeing the whole picture, just one lever moving at the expense of the other. The Precise Yes metric is the headline finding from a new Liminal and Accertify study, but the study itself is much bigger than one metric. It surveyed 250 senior fraud, security, and risk leaders across five industry verticals specifically to test the thesis of organizational convergence for fraud and cybersecurity. I walk through what the data says, what forms of convergence actually improve fraud performance, and which ones don't move the needle at all. This is a data-heavy episode, and I mean that as a compliment to the study. If you've ever needed a fraud KPI for CFO reporting that actually captures the full tradeoff between approvals and fraud loss, this is the one to bring back to your team. What you'll hear in this episode: How the Precise Yes metric is calculated, and why approval rate vs chargeback rate alone can hide the real story of your fraud program Why organizational convergence for fraud and cybersecurity is being driven by operational necessity, not executive mandates, and what that means for how teams are actually changing Why login has become the new fraud control point, with account takeover, credential stuffing, and bot attacks all converging at that stage Why 63.6% of organizations still cannot distinguish a cyber attack from a fraud attack in real time, and what that costs them operationally How CISO fraud ownership is showing up earlier in the vendor decision process, and why board level fraud reporting is becoming a real governance topic Why partial integration is the highest-performing model for organizational convergence for fraud, and why pushing to full structural integration can actually erode the domain expertise that makes teams effective Why sharing just two or more use cases between fraud and cyber teams is the real performance tipping point, delivering a 1.5x improvement in fraud performance scores Why separate budgets between fraud and cyber teams actually outperform unified ones, contradicting one of the most common assumptions about convergence How fraud metrics by industry vertical vary, including why ecommerce and retail lead the pack while marketplaces lag significantly behind What the study found on agentic commerce fraud controls and synthetic identity fraud in ecommerce specifically Who should listen: Fraud leaders looking for a fraud KPI for CFO reporting that captures the real tradeoff between approvals and fraud loss. Anyone building a business case for fraud and cybersecurity convergence and needing real data to support it. CISOs and security leaders increasingly involved in fraud tool evaluation and vendor decisions. Fraud teams trying to figure out where to start with shared fraud and cyber use cases without a full reorg. Ecommerce and marketplace fraud professionals wanting an ecommerce fraud benchmarking study to compare their own performance against. Anyone responsible for board level fraud reporting or making the case for fraud visibility at the executive level.

Welcome back to Fraudology. This week I’m joined by Dave G., who spent years investigating money laundering, wire fraud, and scams before moving into e-commerce and, eventually, directly into crypto. Dave was on the ground floor of Bitcoin back when the white paper first came out, and he brings a rare vantage point on stablecoin fraud risk as someone who has watched a payment technology evolve from a niche curiosity into the backbone of a real conversation about agentic commerce. We start with a story that sets the tone for the whole conversation. It demonstrates how unpredictable this space has always been, and how easily it is to miss where the real value and the real risk end up landing. From there, we get into the heart of what a stablecoin actually is, and why stablecoin unit economics change the payment fraud conversation entirely. They function less like a new currency and more like an infrastructure upgrade. That capability sounds abstract until you follow it to its logical endpoint; agentic e-commerce. Everyone wants to talk about AI agents buying jackets, concert tickets, or collectibles, the high-consideration, emotionally driven purchases people actually enjoy shopping for. But Dave argues the real volume, and the real fraud exposure, is going to show up in the boring stuff. Bread, milk, and eggs. The things nobody wants to spend time discovering, just delivered. And when those transactions are worth pennies instead of dollars, low-dollar transaction fraud stops looking like a nuisance and starts looking like a scalable business model for criminals willing to take a cent at a time instead of hundreds of dollars at once. That shift exposes a chargeback liability gap that already has real victims. A reminder that new payment technology fraud adoption always follows the same pattern: whatever gets built, someone tries to exploit before the guardrails exist. What you'll hear in this episode: How Dave went from investigating money laundering and wire fraud to working directly in crypto, and the story of accidentally giving away roughly $1.5 million in Bitcoin at industry conferences. Why stablecoin fraud risk needs to be understood separately from Bitcoin fraud history, and how stablecoins function more like an infrastructure upgrade than a new currency. How stablecoin unit economics make micropayment fraud economics viable at a scale traditional card and ACH rails were never built to support. Why the agentic e-commerce conversation has it backwards, focusing on high-consideration purchases like jackets and concert tickets instead of the low-dollar transaction fraud risk hiding in everyday purchases like bread, milk, and eggs. A real chargeback liability example where a cardholder admitted an AI agent made the purchase, and the merchant still had no compelling evidence chargeback rules to fight it. Why device-based identity verification is a weaker foundation than the industry treats it as, and an early look at an emerging protocol for verifying AI agent identities. How consortium fraud data sharing can create real, sometimes irreversible fraud blacklist consortium risk when a label gets attached to the wrong entity. A subscription chargebacks story involving an antivirus company that charged customers for software that did nothing at all. Why every new payment technology, from ACH to stablecoins, follows the same pattern: fraud arrives before the guardrails do. You should listen to this episode if you: Work in payments, fraud risk, or chargeback management and want to understand where stablecoin fraud risk and agentic commerce actually intersect. Are responsible for card network relationships or dispute strategy and want to understand the chargeback liability gap in agent-initiated purchases. Are evaluating identity verification strategies and want a real critique of device-based identity as a long-term solution. Participate in a fraud consortium and want to better understand the risk and responsibility that comes with labeling data. Are trying to get ahead of new payment technology fraud adoption instead of reacting to it after losses show up. Want a grounded, practitioner-level conversation about crypto fraud and payment fraud that goes beyond the hype cycle.

In this episode, I'm sitting down with Tal Yeshanov. Someone I've known for a very long time in this industry, and one of the sharpest risk leaders I know. Tal's path into fraud started almost by accident at Google and YouTube. Then took her through building fraud programs at Eventbrite, before its IPO, and Uber during its earliest hockey-stick growth years. Tal has spent her career building holistic fraud detection systems from scratch, in industries where there was no playbook to follow. For years, fraud teams operated off a snapshot. Device at checkout. IP at checkout. Did the payment information match? Tal walks through why that single-moment view is no longer enough. And why the shift toward an orchestration platform, one that pulls in customer journey risk signals from the moment a user lands on your site rather than just the moment they transact, is where modern fraud programs are actually headed. The deeper theme of this episode is what happens when you stop treating fraud detection as a scoring exercise, and start treating it as a full picture. Tal shares a personal story about a rule she built early in her career that was, on paper, flawless. It caught the exact triangulation fraud pattern it was designed for. It also caught a company executive, because his girlfriend used his credit card in a different city. That's false positive reduction in fraud detection in its most human form, and it's a direct argument for upstream fraud prevention data collection: pulling in more signals earlier in the journey instead of adding more rules at the transaction point. What you'll hear in this episode: How Tal moved from Google and YouTube into building fraud programs at Eventbrite and Uber with no existing playbook to follow. Why holistic fraud detection means tracking customer journey risk signals from first visit to transaction, not just a snapshot at checkout. How an orchestration platform unifies device, IP, email, and behavioral data that used to live in separate point solutions. A real story about false positive reduction in fraud detection, including a rule that was technically perfect and still failed a legitimate customer. How the same holistic approach extends to account takeover detection, including typing cadence, autofill behavior, and device history. Why domain expertise vs AI in fraud isn't a competition, and how agentic AI is being used right now to query databases, support customer service teams, and triage escalations. A candid conversation about AI replacing fraud jobs, including a real example of a company that prematurely laid off its fraud leadership. Why fraud team tribal knowledge doesn't transfer to an AI model, and what companies risk losing when it walks out the door. Tal's fraud leadership philosophy, built on transparency and empathy, and why it creates teams that stay in touch for years. The ongoing industry shift from risk team vs fraud team naming, and why more companies are choosing the broader term. You should listen to this episode if you: Work in fraud detection, risk operations, account security, or trust and safety. Are evaluating an orchestration platform or trying to move your fraud program beyond point-in-time scoring. Want a practical, non-hypothetical look at where agentic AI actually fits in fraud operations today. Are a fraud leader worried about AI replacing fraud jobs on your team, or trying to make the case for why domain expertise still matters. Care about fraud leadership philosophy and want to build a team that stays loyal and stays sharp.

Welcome back to Fraudology. Every once in a while I come across a report that makes me stop what I was planning to talk about because it's just that important. This is one of those weeks. Matt Vega recently released his quarterly fraud report 2026, and after reading it, I knew we needed to break it down together. Not because it's predicting what might happen next year. Because every attack covered in this report is already happening. One of the biggest themes running through the report is that fraud is simply moving faster than fraud teams are. AI is making sophisticated attacks cheaper, easier to launch, and much harder to detect. Criminals no longer need deep technical skills when they can rent the tools they need through fraud as a service marketplaces. So what does that actually look like? In this episode, I walk through several of the newest fraud tactics already showing up in the wild, including malware hidden behind fake unsubscribe links, banking malware that can piggyback on a customer's trusted device, and session hijacking techniques that make account takeover fraud incredibly difficult to detect using traditional fraud detection models. At first glance, many of these attacks look legitimate. That's exactly the problem. We also talk about why fraud teams can't rely on individual trust signals like device intelligence, IP reputation, or even behavioral analytics by themselves anymore. Criminals have learned how to blend into legitimate customer behavior, which means our approach to fraud detection and fraud prevention has to evolve too. This is where things get interesting. One of my biggest takeaways from Matt's report is that the answer isn't one new tool or one new model. It's layering better fraud intelligence, sharing information across consortium networks, and understanding the broader cybercrime trends happening outside your own organization. Because by the time a new attack reaches your queue, there's a good chance another company has already seen it. I also spend a few minutes sharing an update on the Merchant Fraud Alliance conference, including our new AI bootcamp that's focused on practical ways fraud teams can start using AI in fraud prevention today. Not because AI replaces fraud analysts, but because it helps good teams move faster. If you work in merchant fraud, banking fraud, online fraud, or e-commerce fraud, this is one of those episodes that will help you recognize the patterns before they become your next incident. What you'll hear in this episode: Why Matt Vega's quarterly fraud report 2026 is one of the most valuable fraud intelligence resources released this year. How AI is accelerating modern cybercrime and making sophisticated attacks accessible through fraud-as-a-service platforms. A breakdown of several emerging fraud tactics already targeting merchants and financial institutions. How unsubscribe phishing campaigns are being used to install malware and keyloggers. Why banking malware is becoming increasingly effective at bypassing traditional fraud controls. How session hijacking enables criminals to perform account takeover fraud from trusted customer devices. Why device intelligence, IP reputation, and behavioral analytics all need to be evaluated together instead of independently. How fraud intelligence sharing and consortium data help organizations identify emerging threats faster. An update on the Merchant Fraud Alliance conference and its new AI in fraud prevention bootcamp. You should listen to this episode if you: Lead fraud, risk, or trust & safety teams. Manage fraud prevention for an ecommerce merchant, fintech, bank, or payments company. Want to stay ahead of the latest cybercrime trends instead of reacting after attacks become widespread. Are evaluating how AI is changing both fraud prevention and AI fraud. Build or manage fraud detection models. Investigate account takeover, synthetic identity, or online fraud. Want practical fraud prevention best practices instead of theoretical discussions. Rely on device intelligence, IP reputation, or behavioral analytics as part of your fraud strategy.

Welcome back to Fraudology. In this episode, I’m sitting down with Mark Porteous, a longtime leader in e-commerce fraud and trust who knows two-sided marketplaces from the inside out. Mark spent nine years at StockX, where he started in customer support before building the company’s fraud program from the ground up. And honestly, that is one of the best ways to learn marketplace fraud prevention because you see the customer complaints, the chargebacks, the seller issues, the account problems, and the policy gaps before anybody has officially decided they belong to a fraud team. We get into what makes online marketplace fraud so different from traditional e-commerce. In a standard retail transaction, the merchant controls the inventory, the pricing, and fulfillment. In a two-sided marketplace, the platform may be trusting one person to sell, another person to buy, and sometimes a third person to deliver the product. Every additional participant creates another identity question, another fraud vector, and another opportunity for marketplace scams or policy abuse. The deeper theme of this episode is market volatility fraud. Prices can change dramatically because of a sports result, a viral release, an artist announcement, a celebrity event, or a sudden shortage. When that happens, legitimate customer behavior changes, but fraudulent behavior changes too. Sellers may decide not to fulfill because they can resell the item for more. Buyers may file friendly fraud chargebacks after prices fall. Stolen cards may be used to purchase high-demand inventory. And risk models that normally work well can suddenly start treating good customers like fraudsters. Marketplace fraud prevention cannot stay on autopilot. Fraud leaders need strong policies, clear escalation playbooks, reliable fraud intelligence, and real collaboration with vendors, data teams, customer support, marketing, product, and leadership. What you’ll hear in this episode: How Mark moved from customer support into building a marketplace fraud program from the ground up. Why two-sided and multi-sided marketplaces create more complex identity, payment, seller, and fulfillment risks. How marketplace pricing volatility can trigger seller non-fulfillment, policy abuse, first-party fraud, and chargebacks. Why World Cup ticket pricing is a real-time example of market volatility fraud. How friendly fraud can increase when buyers repurchase the same item after its secondary-market price drops. Why fraud models and vendor strategies cannot be left on autopilot during high-demand events. How approval rates, false declines, fraud risk scoring, and card-not-present fraud need to be balanced during sudden demand spikes. Why fraud leaders need playbooks, policy enforcement, and clear escalation paths before an unexpected event happens. How to work with marketing, product, growth, finance, customer support, and security without becoming the team that says no to everything. Why strong fraud storytelling must always be supported by fraud analytics and measurable business impact. You should listen to this episode if you: Work in marketplace fraud prevention, trust and safety, fraud operations, or fraud risk management. Manage buyer fraud, seller fraud, marketplace chargebacks, seller verification, or payment fraud prevention. Work for a ticketing, sneaker, collectible, resale, delivery, or multi-sided marketplace. Need a better approach to fraud monitoring during major events, product releases, shortages, or pricing spikes. Want to improve collaboration between fraud, customer support, product, growth, marketing, finance, and security teams.

In this episode of Fraudology, Karisse Hendrick provides a comprehensive debrief following the massive shifts in the world of artificial intelligence and digital fraud. Karisse shares her highlights and lowlights from navigating the industry's rapid evolution, cutting through the future-looking hype to provide practical insights for fraud and payments professionals. The conversation explores the evolving mechanics of Agentic AI in commerce, detailing how partnerships like the new Visa and OpenAI infrastructure are designed to make AI commerce a reality. Karisse provides an inside look at why OpenAI previously shelved its original agentic project to avoid becoming a merchant of record, shifting away from full structural ownership due to complex liability rules and low initial adoption. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The VAMP Threshold "Cliff": How Visa’s monitoring programs offer no "trial" or "safety" months anymore, immediately penalizing merchants the first month they cross thresholds with instant fines and fees per chargeback and TC40. The Complexity of Agentic Chargebacks: Real-world examples of "authorized" AI purchases where merchants are automatically losing disputes because card brands do not yet have established "compelling evidence" rules or representment provisions for AI agents. The Hook of Cloned Sites: Why AI models looking purely for the "best deal" are inadvertently leading consumers straight into elaborate, cloned phishing websites that harvest credit card data and trigger fraudulent descriptors. Additionally, Karisse dives into the latest real-world data from a recent UK case study highlighting how fraudulent duplicate sites for household brands appeared directly inside ChatGPT's search indexes. We break down the immediate operational steps fraud leaders must take to protect their customer service channels and coordinate with IT to combat malicious DNS activity before these automated losses skyrocket.

In this episode of Fraudology, Karisse Hendrick sits down with Hailey Windham, Community Lead for Banking at Sardine and host of the Fraud Forward podcast. Hailey shares her journey transitioning from a practitioner at community financial institutions to the vendor side, focusing entirely on providing practical, operational insights for credit unions and community bank fraud teams. The conversation explores the highly anticipated June 2026 updated guidance from FinCEN regarding Section 314B of the USA Patriot Act. Hailey breaks down how this new fact sheet eliminates long-standing confusion and regulatory fears, giving financial institutions a robust legal framework to safely share information and collaborate under a liability safe harbor. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the banking fraud landscape today: Fraud Explicitly in Scope: How the new guidance expands past narrow money laundering limits to formally include computer fraud and scams targeting individuals, organizations, or governments. Reasonable Suspicion vs. Certainty: Why teams no longer need a fully completed investigation or total certainty before sharing data, making early sharing on incomplete information permissible. Real-Time Data Transmission: The protocol shifts allowing financial institutions to share verbal alerts, video surveillance footage, IP addresses, and attempted transactions in real time. The Power of Associations: How non-bank compliance providers and industry trade groups can now legally organize 314B associations so smaller institutions don't have to fight fraud alone. Additionally, Hailey dives into the preliminary insights from the industry’s first practitioner-built benchmarking survey for community banks and credit unions under $10 billion. We examine the systemic issues keeping banking fraud fighters up at night, from rigid legacy core system limitations to the immense pressures of tackling an exponential surge in social engineering scams with limited resources. Connect with Hailey Windham

In this episode of Fraudology, host Karisse Hendrick cuts through the AI noise to analyze the critical fraud news and regulatory developments impacting the industry today. Inspired by conversations with Merchant Fraud Alliance ambassadors, Karisse separates empty hype from actionable intelligence to help fraud and payments professionals better protect their organizations. The episode kicks off with a personal story: a real-time "fraud phone a friend" scenario involving a reissued credit card that suffered an enumeration attack (card testing) before it was even activated. Karisse breaks down the mechanics of modern BIN enumeration attacks. How fraudsters leverage AI to narrow down math equations like the Luhn algorithm, test numbers across friction-free merchant checkouts, and navigate the lack of activation requirements or AVS letter checks in payments. She also touches on Visa's merchant enumeration thresholds and the lesser-known Visa Issuer Monitoring Program (VIMP). Karisse then reviews four major industry news stories driving the future of cyber fraud: The Fall of Frontier Models & The KYC Paradox: Following the U.S. government forcing AI models Mythos 5 and Fable 5 offline over cybersecurity concerns, frontier AI labs are pushing for strict, bank-grade Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification. Karisse reads an insightful debrief explaining why traditional KYC will fail to stop threat actors due to pre-verified accounts, session-hijacking infostealer logs, and deepfake biometrics. Meta's $16 Billion Scam Economy: New statistics and internal documents reveal that Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) account for up to 68% of fraud reported by major institutions like Lloyds Bank—and that Meta actively profits off fraudulent ad traffic rather than taking it down. The Reality of the UK's Mandatory APP Fraud Reimbursement: A 15-month progress check on the UK's 50/50 mandatory scam reimbursement policy for banks. While 89% of in-scope losses were returned to victims, APP fraud losses actually climbed year-over-year due to high-value, long-gestation social engineering scams. Google's RICO Lawsuit Against "Outsider": Google files a lawsuit targeting "Outsider," a massive PhaaS (Phishing-as-a-Service) Telegram network responsible for 9,000 fake sites, $1.9 billion stolen, and over 3.87 million compromised credit cards using AI-assisted smishing templates.

In this episode of Fraudology, Karisse Hendrick provides a comprehensive debrief following her long-awaited conversation with Kathy Stokes, the Senior Director of Fraud Prevention for AARP. Kathy shares her highlights and lowlights from leading the Fraud Watch Network, cutting through the general consumer education hype to provide practical insights for fraud and payments professionals. The conversation explores the evolving mechanics of fraud victimization in commerce, detailing how organizations like AARP are now identifying systemic vulnerabilities by monitoring "invisible" behaviors, such as how society naturally blames the victims of these crimes. Kathy provides an inside look at why the industry must move away from simply playing "whack-a-mole" at the point of transaction, moving toward shared intelligence to avoid the massive financial and emotional liabilities of sophisticated networks. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The Private-Public Intelligence Threshold: How the National Elder Fraud Coordination Center (NEFCC/NEFSI) is bringing enterprise giants like Amazon, Google, and Walmart together with law enforcement to drastically turn isolated smaller incidents into massive, prosecutable organized crime cases. The Complexity of Systemic Collaboration: Real-world examples of how major financial institutions are shifting their legal stances from hiding data due to perceived risk, to realizing that there is a far greater risk if they do not share fraud data across networks. The Human Element vs. The Script: Why senior fraud leadership and empathetic human support systems cannot be replaced by generic checklists, as the critical domain expertise and emotional recovery required to turn victims into survivors is found only through dedicated peer communities. Additionally, Kathy dives into the latest AARP initiatives, revealing the staggering reality of a $200 billion a year crime loss that impacts countless demographics across the United States. We break down the production behind AARP's Fraud Wars YouTube series, a historic project designed to humanize the impact of fraud and challenge the long-standing apathy within enterprise spaces. Finally, we examine how an organization's willingness to block scams depends almost entirely on shifting corporate mindsets away from accepting multi-million dollar losses as just an "acceptable level of risk."

**To sign up for the VAMP Webinar, June 16 at 1pm ET: https://events.zoom.us/ev/AjeqbDavKTXXc6iR8Z6Sbr8ttRf-9pqHa4fj_vccOfo1dwgNt6sG~AnY80C-qT5FYf6tPvk9UKHiJqkeUb_76qCOKNJdretWRhD6K3Ps2OwBmPw In this solo episode of Fraudology, Karisse Hendrick breaks down a potpourri of recent fraud news stories that are shaking up both the retail and banking sectors. Karisse exposes how organized crime rings are shifting their tactics to outsmart even the tightest security frameworks, highlighting why continuous adaptation is the only defense in a rapidly evolving threat landscape. The conversation explores the mechanics of a highly devious new retail scam targeting major retailers through manipulated HTML price-matching. Karisse provides an inside look at how these groups leverage local code manipulation on personal devices to walk away with hundreds of dollars in real store credit per hit, effectively dodging security measures previously put in place to halt bulk gift card theft. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The Power and Price of AI Cybersecurity: How major US banks are scrambling to patch thousands of IT vulnerabilities exposed by Anthropic's new preview model, Mythos, which can stitch together low-risk flaws into serious, exploitable threats. The Reality of AI Replacement Plans: Why CEOs are facing unexpected hurdles with corporate layoffs, balancing the spiraling token costs of running AI agents against the irreplaceable institutional knowledge of human teams. Biometric Exfiltration from Selfies: The startling reality of "scissor-hand" or peace sign poses in photos, where modern high-resolution cameras and AI tools allow fraudsters to reconstruct permanent fingerprint ridges. The Scale vs. Quality Shift in Phishing: How AI bots are allowing bad actors to simultaneously launch highly personalized bank impersonation attacks against small community banks and regional credit unions, overwhelming their baseline operational capacities. Additionally, Karisse dives into the strategic logistics behind these multi-state fraud sprees, detailing how criminals use encrypted messaging apps and overseas reshippers to launder their proceeds. We break down the connection between retail fraud and elder tech support scams, revealing how stolen or victim-funded gift cards feed directly into high-end electronic purchases. Finally, we examine how deep-web dumps of dead credit card data are weaponized by scammers to accurately identify a consumer's specific financial institution before they ever make a call.

In this episode of Fraudology, host Karisse Hendrick welcomes back Marc Evans, a veteran Las Vegas detective and the founder of Fraud Hero. Marc provides an on-the-ground debrief of the rapidly shifting fraud landscape, sharing front-line insights into how criminal organizations are pivoting their tactics as traditional cash-out methods vanish. The conversation explores the dramatic downfall of major crypto ATM networks, highlighted by the recent bankruptcy of Bitcoin Depot, the country's largest operator. Marc details how local regulations and strict transaction caps have inadvertently decimated the crypto ATM business model , proving just how much of their revenue was quietly subsidized by elder abuse and organized crime. We look at what happens when 9,000 machines go offline overnight and how scammers are reacting to losing one of their favorite liquidation tools. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The AI Social Engineering Force Multiplier: How threat actors are combining generative AI with classic psychological manipulation to automate hyper-realistic phishing, clone voices, and scale scams to unprecedented levels. The Cognitive Bias of Automation: Why our increasing reliance on LLMs to summarize emails and messages is actively dulling human critical thinking, causing professionals and consumers alike to miss glaring red flags. The "Scam Formula" Framework: A breakdown of the universal four-part mechanics—the Hook, the Story, the Urgency, and the Payment —and how the simple mantra of "Pause, Think, Verify" can disrupt a fraudster's spell. Additionally, Marc dives into the terrifying rise of digital extortion targeting a new demographic: teenagers under 17. We break down the latest FBI IC3 data showing how AI-driven sextortion schemes are uniquely impacting youth across the country , highlighting why fraud education must urgently expand beyond senior citizens to protect the next generation.

In this episode of Fraudology, Karisse Hendrick comes to you from a beachside work-cation in Florida to deliver an essential debrief on the latest shifts in the e-commerce fraud landscape. Fresh off the Accertify Global Customer Summit, Karisse shares key strategic takeaways on why cybersecurity and fraud teams must break down operational silos as fraud signals increasingly move up-funnel. The conversation takes a critical look at the limitations of relying on Large Language Models (LLMs) in risk management. Highlighting a recent blunder where a Top 4 consultancy published a 44-page fraud report riddled with completely fabricated citations and footnotes, Karisse and Dr. Nicola Harding explain why "domain expertise" cannot be automated. Because true fraud insights are kept proprietary to protect them from criminals, open-source AI tools are inherently prone to "hallucinating" facts. We also break down Mastercard's newly announced Scam Merchant Dashboard, which officially goes into effect on July 24th, 2026. This aggressive program places a heavy burden on e-commerce merchants and their acquirers through a multi-trigger framework designed to shut down predatory accounts. Key pillars of Mastercard’s new program include: The Authorization Performance Breakdown: A sudden drop in approval rates—such as a 50 percentage point decline or falling below a 30% overall threshold within a 72-hour window—will immediately trigger an investigation. The New Merchant 5% "Math": For accounts open less than six months, Mastercard is introducing a brand-new metric: combining refunds and chargebacks divided by overall sales. Crossing a 5% threshold over a rolling 30-day period (with at least 500 transactions) risks immediate account review. The 72-Hour Termination Clock: Once flagged by issuer complaints or network alerts, acquirers have a strict 72-hour window to either prove the merchant's legitimacy or completely terminate their ability to accept Mastercard.

In this episode of Fraudology , Karisse Hendrick is joined by Robert Siciliano , a world-renowned security analyst, bestselling author, and the architect of the Strategic Human Firewall . While the industry often obsesses over technological solutions, Robert explores why humans—not hackers—remain the ultimate deciding factor in organizational security. The conversation dives deep into the "Human Blind Spot"—our biological instinct to trust that often overrides digital suspicion. Robert shares his unconventional journey from the streets of Boston to becoming a leading security educator, including the time he bought a working ATM on Craigslist to prove how easily data breaches can be purchased. We also explore the critical shift from "Security Awareness" to "Security Appreciation" : The Compliance Trap : Why traditional phishing simulations and "check-the-box" training often lead to security fatigue and victim shaming. The Strategic Human Firewall : How to transform employees from passive targets into active detection layers by filtering intent rather than just traffic. The Kitchen Table Effect : Why the most effective security training is personal, encouraging employees to protect their families so they naturally protect their companies. Overcoming Fatalism : A direct look at why people resist security measures like password managers and home alarms, and how to bridge the "Appreciation Gap" through empathetic dialogue.

In this episode of Fraudology , host Karisse Hendrick is joined by a guest she has been trying to bring back to the show for years: Holly Sandberg , a veteran leader in fraud operations, Americas Advisory Board at MRC and the former Director of Trust and Safety at Reverb. As the industry grapples with the rapid rise of Generative AI, Holly and Karisse cut through the "robot takeover" anxiety to provide a grounded, expert perspective on the future of fraud leadership. The conversation explores the evolving mechanics of AI in trust and safety , detailing why the "human element" remains the ultimate force multiplier for technical models. Holly shares why senior fraud leadership cannot be replaced by LLMs , noting that the critical "domain expertise" required to manage sophisticated fraud—and spot model drift —is not found in open-source data. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The AI Visibility Strategy: Why volunteering for AI steering committees and working cross-functionally is the best way to prove your indispensability to leadership. Hallucinations and Data Gaps: A deep dive into the "bias toward certainty" in AI, featuring a hilarious yet cautionary example of "pizza fraud" hallucinations and the risks of depending on LLMs for math and complex policy. Career Resilience in a Changing Market: Tactical advice on navigating layoffs, the "quiet rehiring" trend, and how to pitch your value for a promotion by focusing on what you will do, rather than just what you’ve done.

In this episode of Fraudology , Karisse Hendrick provides a comprehensive update on the shifting tides of the fraud industry, from international takedowns to the growing pains of AI-driven commerce. Karisse dives into the latest news and personal insights gathered from her network, cutting through the industry hype to provide practical realities for fraud and payments professionals. The conversation explores the evolving mechanics of Agentic AI in commerce and how the major card brands are reacting to it. Karisse provides an inside look at new protection frameworks, such as American Express’s "ACE Developer Kit," and contrasts them with the current lack of "compelling evidence" provisions for AI agents at Visa and Mastercard. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The Scam Center Strike Force: A breakdown of recent DOJ actions against Southeast Asian criminal organizations, the seizure of $700 million in cryptocurrency, and the sobering reality of human trafficking victims trapped in these compounds. The Positive Lure Phishing Scam: Why hackers are spoofing platforms like Paperless Post and Evite to bypass traditional "fear-based" training, using our desire for community to harvest credentials and install malware. The Human Element vs. AI: Why senior fraud leadership cannot be replaced by LLMs. Karisse explains how the critical "domain expertise" and "institutional knowledge" required to manage sophisticated fraud are not found in the open-source data that powers AI. The Fraud Job Market Crisis: A candid look at the recent wave of layoffs affecting veteran fraud fighters, the trend of "pay band reductions," and strategic advice for those navigating a saturated and increasingly centralized job market.

The Fraud Avengers Assemble: Inside the Magic of Fraud Fight Club Round 3 In this special reunion episode of Fraudology , Karisse Hendrick is joined by Hailey Windham ( Fraud Forward podcast) and Jen Lamont for an authentic, "slumber party style" debrief straight from an Airbnb in Charlotte, North Carolina. After three days at Fraud Fight Club Round 3 , the trio cuts through the noise of traditional conferences to discuss why this "unconference" feels like the "Fraud Avengers" have finally assembled to collaborate, rather than just sit through slide decks. The conversation dives deep into the emotional and technical highlights of the event, starting with a powerful keynote from Tracy Hall , a romance scam survivor whose story of a two-year, "in-real-life" relationship challenges every stereotype of fraud victimization. We explore the "last mile" of scams, including the chilling new acronyms parents need to know—like WDYLL and DYS —and why Australia’s aggressive legislative approach to social media and scam liability is setting a global benchmark. Jen Lamont shares the stage with the legendary Marc Evans to break down a fascinating $30,000 "bust-out" fraud case involving a Las Vegas casino, 314B information sharing, and the race against a seven-day security film window. Meanwhile, Haley Windham discusses the "Outnumbered, Not Outmatched" philosophy, detailing how AI and automation are becoming "jet fuel" for lean fraud teams buried under manual reporting and dispute trends. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The Rise of Ghost Tapping: A deep dive into the new wave of contactless, tokenized fraud hitting luxury merchants and why many banks are only just now connecting the dots. The "Unconference" Magic: Why the most significant industry breakthroughs are happening at Airbnb kitchen tables and through "Nokia phone" claps rather than on the main stage. Cross-Industry Adoption: How the "Merchant Fraud Alliance" (MFA) is set to bring this same level of intense collaboration to the merchant and e-commerce side in Chicago this October. The Human Connection: Why "extroverted networking" and firm handshakes are still the best tools we have to combat fraudsters who communicate better than we do.

In this episode of Fraudology, Karisse Hendrick welcomes back Ron Zayas , CEO of Ironwall , to discuss the terrifying ways Artificial Intelligence is industrializing fraud. While we often think of AI as a tool for automation, Zayas explains that its true danger lies in its ability to apply human-like logic to stolen data at an unprecedented scale. The conversation dives deep into the mechanics of modern account takeovers, explaining how AI can "guess" password variations by identifying personal patterns across multiple data breaches. We also explore the hidden risks of biometric security, from the vulnerabilities of centralized facial recognition databases to the high error rates of AI models when identifying people of color. Key topics covered in this episode include: Fraud at Scale: How AI moves beyond simple automation to recognize patterns in your passwords and digital behavior to breach accounts across the web. The Biometric Trap: Why storing your facial recognition or fingerprint data with a bank or organization is a permanent risk, and why local storage on your device is the only safe alternative. Biometric Bias and Mistakes: The reality of high error rates in facial recognition for people of color and the harrowing story of a woman arrested for a crime in a state she had never visited due to an AI mismatch. Breaking the Connection: Practical steps to remove your personal information from data brokers and why you should treat your mobile number with the same secrecy as your Social Security number. The Metadata Threat: How a simple photo of your house or the Grand Canyon can leak your exact IP address and physical location to bad actors through hidden metadata.

In this episode of Fraudology, Karisse Hendrick welcomes back Erin West , prosecutor and founder of Operation Shamrock , for an urgent update on the global "scamdemic" of pig butchering. Erin shares firsthand accounts from her recent investigative trip to Cambodia, providing a chilling look at the industrialized nature of transnational organized crime and the massive scale of the scam compounds operating in the region. The conversation explores the recent waves of accountability, including the historic U.S. indictment of Cambodian/Chinese kingpin Chen Ji and the subsequent $15 billion forfeiture—a move that has sent ripples of fear through the industry. Erin details the "Super Bowl effect" she witnessed in Sihanoukville, where compounds appeared shuttered for show while operations continued behind locked metal doors and shuttered windows. We also explore the "hot topics" dominating the fraud landscape today: The GDP of Fraud : How the scam industry now accounts for an estimated 40% to 60% of Cambodia’s GDP , making total eradication a complex economic and humanitarian challenge. Industrialized Deception : Why these compounds resemble corporate training rooms—complete with cubbies for personal phones and strict "fine" schedules for victims—proving this is a highly systemized global industry. The Liability Lever : A look at how platforms like Meta successfully block scam ads in Australia where they face financial liability, while failing to do so in regions where "teeth" in the law are missing. Building the Coalition : How Erin’s crypto-coalition has grown to 2,400 members , bridging the gap between local law enforcement and federal agencies to ensure victims are no longer turned away. Additionally, Erin dives into the heartbreaking reality of the "generation's worth of wealth" being stolen from Western countries to fund "mint-colored Rolls Royces" and garish displays of luxury in Phnom Penh. We conclude with a call to action for fraud professionals to "Train the Trainer," using Operation Shamrock’s resources to educate their own communities and break the echo chamber.