--- title: IAFCI Nashville: Unplugging Fraud, One Connection at a Time source_page: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/iafci canonical: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/iafci format: text/markdown date: 2026-09-09T16:01:00.000Z description: Live from IAFCI Nashville. Unplugging fraud with a fraudster turned fraud fighter, real stories of prison financial crime, and AI enabled fraud… --- **Quick links:** [Human page](https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/iafci) · [Home](https://www.sardine.ai) · [Customers](https://www.sardine.ai/customers) · [Blog](https://www.sardine.ai/blog) · [Demo](https://www.sardine.ai/demo) --- # IAFCI Nashville: Unplugging Fraud, One Connection at a Time **Published:** 2026-09-09T16:01:00.000Z Live from IAFCI Nashville. Unplugging fraud with a fraudster turned fraud fighter, real stories of prison financial crime, and AI enabled fraud… What’s up fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! This episode is recorded live and unplugged on the conference floor at IAFCI International in Nashville. I couldn’t fit everything I loved into one tidy gathering. Instead I’m bringing you the open floor conversations that, for me, are helping to unravel fraud and are weaving together fraud fighters. The headliner here is Michael Perez, the first ever fraudster turned fraud fighter to appear on Fraud Forward. What happened in his story is what you’ll want to hear the most. Federal agents recognized he was more valuable teaching fraud prevention than sitting on the sidelines. Beyond Michael’s story is a walk around the conference floor with a retired FBI cyber crime agent turned author, a Postal Inspector on leveraging relationships, an NYPD detective on dismantling large scale fraud schemes tied to money laundering, and two South Carolina Department of Corrections investigators on the sophisticated financial crime investigations happening behind bars. What you’ll hear in this episode: Michael Perez's full story on how his card skimming operation worked, what led to his arrest, and how he's since built tools that help detect the exact fraud he used to commit. A retired FBI cyber crime agent's take on why nearly 90% of the financial fraud he investigated could have been prevented, and the cybersecurity training mindset he now teaches. How a Postal Inspector's small agency structure makes relationship-building and fraud conference collaboration a survival skill, not a nice-to-have. An NYPD detective's approach to dismantling large scale fraud schemes and money laundering investigation targets, plus a real elder fraud wellness check made possible entirely through IAFCI chapter connections. What South Carolina prison investigators are finding through prison financial crime investigations on contraband cell phones, including AI enabled fraud like deepfake documents and videos, plus peer-to-peer payment fraud tied to inmate financial fraud. Why IAFCI's law enforcement and bank collaboration model, letting each side sit in on the other's sessions, is something conference attendees keep pointing to as a genuine differentiator. The recurring themes across nearly every conversation of transnational fraud schemes operating at scale, and why the fraud fighter community, not any single tool or team, is still fraud fighters' biggest advantage. You should listen to this episode if you: Are a fraud, risk, or financial crimes professional who wants a real, one-the ground feel for what IAFCI conversations actually sound like. Are someone curious what a fraudster turned fraud fighter can teach the industry that a traditional investigator can’t. Are on a fraud team or a law enforcement investigator and looking for practical examples of bank enforcement and bank collaboration paying off. Are working adjacent to card skimming, prison financial crime investigations, or elder fraud and want real case examples. Are a fraud fighter, have felt isolated in your role, and want a reminder that the fraud fighting community changes what’s possible. ### Episode notes Michael Perez: From card skimming to fraud prevention tools Michael Perez, Co-Founder and CTO at Micclo LLC, walked me through exactly how his operation worked between 2015 and 2017. He installed skimmers, printed cloned cards, and traveled the country to cash out stolen data using PINs, zip codes, and fleet card credentials. His arrest came down to one uncharacteristic mistake, sending a data file without his usual VPN protection. What happened after is the part that is the more surprising part. Secret Service agents recognized his value as an educator rather than a re-inserted informant. That decision set Michael on a path toward building two commercial tools, a card-data verification device and a skimmer detector, both now used across our industry. It's proof that the same skills that make someone a good fraudster can make them an even better fraud fighter, if someone gives them the chance. Bryan Bennett: Why the right piece of information can complete the picture Bryan Bennett, a Financial Crimes Investigator with the City of Thornton, Colorado, and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, gave me a case-level view of how transnational fraud schemes actually move once they cross into a local investigation. What stuck with me is a message I heard echoed all conference long. Fraud investigators are rarely far off from the truth. They just need the right piece of information to complete it. That's exactly why sharing what you know, even something that feels small, matters so much. Scott Augenbaum: The retired FBI agent's case for cybersecurity training done right Scott Augenbaum spent 24 years with the FBI, largely working cyber crime, before retiring to found CyberSecure Mindset. His core message is blunt, and I love him for it. Almost 90% of the financial fraud he investigated could have been prevented if end users simply had the right information beforehand. Scott has spent his retirement writing and teaching cybersecurity training built around what he calls the cyber secure mindset, and his whole argument comes down to this. Law enforcement's biggest structural weakness is only getting involved after a victim has already lost their money. If we can get ahead of that, we change everything. Eric Shen: Why small agencies lean hardest into networking Eric Shen, Inspector in Charge with the US Postal Inspection Service, told me why he sends 50 to 80 inspectors to IAFCI conferences every year. Fraud conference collaboration and leveraging relationships across a large membership base is often the only way a small team can effectively investigate financial fraud. His advice to his own team when they arrive is one I'm stealing forever. This isn't the sixth grade dance. Don't huddle in the corner with people you already know. Go make a friend. It might just save your next case. Daniel Alessandrino: An elder fraud case solved through conference connections Daniel Alessandrino, a Detective 1st Grade and Task Force Officer with the NYPD Special Frauds Squad, focuses on large scale fraud schemes. His investigations include street gangs, Chinese national money laundering networks, and West African fraud groups. He shared a story with me that is really important to highlight. IAFCI's Carolinas chapter reached out through their network after spotting rapid, alarming withdrawals from an elderly victim's retirement account. A single connection to Daniel led to a same-day elder fraud wellness check. That's not a hypothetical about the power of networking. That's someone's grandmother, safe, because a group of fraud fighters knew each other's names. Travis Cox and Matt McIntyre: What's happening inside prisons, with contraband phones and AI Travis Cox, a law enforcement and investigative leader with the Office of Inspector General at the SC Department of Corrections, and Matt McIntyre, an Intel Analyst with the same office, co-authored Cellblock Empires, The Hidden Economy Behind Bars. Together they described a side of financial fraud most of us never think about. Roughly 3,000 contraband cell phones get removed from South Carolina prisons every year. Many used to run peer-to-peer payment fraud, buy or sell stolen identities for as little as $150, and generate AI enabled fraud like deepfake videos and fake documents. Their message to banks conducting device intelligence investigations was simple, and it's one I want every fraud team to actually act on. Include as much personally identifiable information as possible in any fraud reporting, since a single phone number or email address can be the missing link connecting outside financial fraud to an inmate already under investigation. Sometimes the smallest detail you almost don't bother including is the exact one someone else needed. ### Key takeaways A fraudster turned fraud fighter brings something none of us can fake. Michael's card skimming background means he sees the blind spots the rest of us have to guess at. Postal inspection fraud investigations run on relationship equity built long before a case ever lands on someone's desk, not scrambled together after the fact. Inmate financial fraud is more organized than most banks realize, running through peer-to-peer apps, bought identities, and contraband phones that never show up on a traditional risk radar. Cryptocurrency scams and transnational fraud schemes aren't two separate conversations anymore. They're the same one, just with more zeros and more borders involved. Cross-sector fraud prevention only works when law enforcement and banks actually sit in on each other's sessions, not just swap business cards and call it a day. Prison financial crime investigations increasingly need the same tools as any bank fraud case, especially device intelligence and a willingness to share PII across sectors. A single money laundering investigation can stretch across street gangs, Chinese national networks, and West African fraud groups, all at the same time, all connected. The fraud fighter community's real superpower isn't a platform or a tool. It's someone being willing to pick up the phone before they even need to. ### Final takeaway If there's one thread running through every single conversation in this episode, it's that fraud fighting doesn't happen in isolation, whether that's a fraudster turned fraud fighter reinventing himself as an educator, a small agency multiplying its reach through relationships, or a single conference connection leading directly to a victim's rescue. Unplugging fraud, this year's IAFCI theme, isn't really about disconnecting anything. It's about plugging the fraud fighter community into each other. Cross-sector fraud prevention is still the one advantage this industry has that fraudsters, even ones running cryptocurrency scams or transnational fraud schemes at scale, can't replicate. Episode resources & links Michael Perez Co-Founder and CTO at Micclo LLC Bryan Benett Financial Crimes Investigator at City of Thornton, Colorado Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMLS) Certified Financial Crimes Investigator Eric Shen US Postal Inspection Service, Inspector in Charge Daniel Alessandrino Detective 1st Grade, Task Force Officer NYPD Special Frauds Squad Scott Augenbaum Retired FBI Agent Cybercrime Prevention Trainer at CyberSecure Mindset Travis Cox Law Enforcement & Investigative Leader Office of Inspector General, SC Department of Corrections Author, Cellblock Empires: The Hidden Economy Behind Bars Matt McIntyre Intel Analyst at SCDC OIG Author, Cellblock Empires: The Hidden Economy Behind Bars Connect with Hailey Windham, CFCS | LinkedIn Host of the Fraud Forward Podcast Banking Community Lead at Sardine Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS) 2023 Credit Union Rockstar, CU Magazine Continuous Improvement Award, SAFE Federal Credit Union, 2023 Top 20 Professionals Under 40, The Sumter Item, 2022