The Fraud Stories That Defined 2025 — And the Payment Shifts That Will Define 2026

In this episode of Banking on Fraudology, Hailey Windham reflects on a transformational year in fraud by unpacking recent, high-stakes cases and zooming out to address the “seismic shift” in the payments ecosystem. The conversation explores the industry’s evolution, highlighting how human intuition, technology, and a unified view of risk are shaping the future of fraud prevention.

Key takeaways: Cases, controls, and the future of payments

Empathy and human intuition are essential
The episode shares several cases that underscore the irreplaceable power of the human element.

• The Mrs. Doubtfire scam: A bizarre case in which a man disguised himself as his deceased 82-year-old mother to collect her pension for three years. The scheme was uncovered by a frontline clerk who noticed the hands appeared too young and the voice occasionally slipped, proving that intuition remains critical.
• The frontline hero: A Missouri bank teller saved a woman from a jury duty arrest scam by quietly slipping her a note, demonstrating that no AI system can replace human compassion and judgment.

The end of siloed intelligence (internal threat)

• Insider threats point to a control problem, not just an employee problem. 
• Cases involving unauthorized withdrawals, debit card ordering, and forged checks by multiple employees at a major US bank reveal patterns of inadequate monitoring and excessive permissions. 
• The Tacoma Credit Union case, where a remote employee stole $345,000 just weeks after being hired, reinforces that remote work requires stronger oversight and that new hires represent a particularly high-risk period.

Innovation is working against us (external threats)

• Scams are evolving alongside technology. Fraudsters are using real bank activity, including transaction amounts and timestamps, to build trust and bypass knowledge-based authentication. 
• New tactics include fake CAPTCHAs that install malware to bypass two-factor authentication, log keystrokes, and monitor active sessions, contributing to rapidly increasing losses.

The state of the fraud fighter (payment rail shift)

• The industry must adapt to the speed and scale of instant payments. Scams are the number one driver of losses across every rail, including ACH, wires, P2P, Zelle, RTP, and FedNow. 
• The core vulnerability is social engineering, not the payment rail itself. The top strategic imperative is to build a unified, real-time view of risk across all payment types, as regulators increasingly expect real-time resilience and evidence that harm could have been prevented. 
• The episode closes with a reminder to reflect with gratitude on the fraud-fighting community and recognize just how strong and resilient it truly is.