---
title: The PSECU Fraud Files: Turning Member Stories Into Fraud Prevention
source_page: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/psecu-fraud-files
canonical: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/psecu-fraud-files
format: text/markdown
date: 2026-10-21T04:01:00.000Z
description: PSECU Fraud Files turn real scam stories into member education. Unpacking how job scams and fake checks become lessons that replace shame with awareness…
---

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# The PSECU Fraud Files: Turning Member Stories Into Fraud Prevention

**Published:** 2026-10-21T04:01:00.000Z

PSECU Fraud Files turn real scam stories into member education. Unpacking how job scams and fake checks become lessons that replace shame with awareness…

What’s up fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward!
We spend a lot of time talking about how scams work. This time we’re talking about how a scam feels while it’s happening to someone, and why one credit union decide that was the most important story to tell.
Amanda Balmer, Director of Financial Crimes at SPECU, has joined me for conversations at conferences before. This is the first time she gets an episode of her own. Amanda leads a team of analysts, investigators, and strategists who protect members. And she’s a big part of why PSECU Fraud Files exists. It’s a video series the credit union built with its marketing team that shares real member stories, anonymized, to help other members spot the warning signs before they lose money.
We dig into why PSECU moved from a newsletter to storytelling while protecting member privacy and dignity, all to build a series that is changing the way members and employees talk about fraud. We also look at the scams hitting credit unions right now, including how a fraudster can coach someone to lie to their own financial institution. If you have ever wondered how a story can treat member education as both an awareness effort and a fraud control, this one is for you.
What you’ll hear in this episode:
How Amanda went from criminal justice student to social worker, private investigator, intelligence analyst, and now director of financial crimes
How a team of analysts, investigators, and strategists works across PSECU to protect members and the credit union
Why impostor scams, including bank impersonation scams and one-time passcode scams, are the trend having the biggest impact right now
How fraudsters coach victims to get around the questions financial institutions ask
Why PSECU treats member fraud education as both awareness and a fraud control
How the Fraud Files evolved from a newsletter into fraud awareness videos built around real member stories
How PSECU approaches anonymizing member fraud stories and takes the shame out of them
A complete job scam story involving a fake check and a mobile deposit, and the scam red flags it reveals
What frontline employees can notice in an ordinary conversation, and how these stories have changed internal training and empathy
You should listen to this episode if you:
Work in credit union fraud prevention and want a model for member education that goes beyond warning lists
Are thinking about sharing real member stories and need a plan for privacy, marketing, and legal approval
Lead or train frontline staff and want practical ways to bring fraud prevention into everyday conversations
Want to understand how job scams, fake checks, and mobile deposit check fraud look from the member’s point of view
Support scam victims and want language that replaces blame with understanding
Are trying to build a better working relationship with your marketing team
### Episode notes
From intelligence analyst to director of financial crimes
Amanda studied criminal justice at Penn State and minored in women’s studies. She worked as a social worker, a private investigator, and an intelligence analyst before landing at PSECU as an investigator. That analyst job taught her how to dig, when to stop digging, and how to piece together different kinds of information before making a call. I’ll admit my own instinct is to stop the fraud right now, and she reminded me that the full context matters, especially when you’re protecting an entire membership. I see that in how she leads her team, with room to challenge each other and a healthy dose of skepticism. Good fraud teams are built on exactly that kind of trust.
Impostor scams and the stories fraudsters build
Amanda said impostor scams are having the biggest impact by far, and the stories are getting more specific. Some callers claim to be from the member’s financial institution and trick them into sharing the passcode that authorizes digital banking activity. Others claim to be an internal investigations team looking into a teller, and send the member to the branch to withdraw cash and move it somewhere else. I shared a version I heard at another conference, where a member put a large amount of cash in a car in the credit union parking lot. These fraudsters research their victims, build trust, and coach them to lie to the financial institution, because they know which questions we’ll ask. When a story is that good, the victim ends up trusting the scammer more than the institution, which is why education has to explain the tactic and not only the rule.
Why member education is a fraud control
Amanda doesn’t see education as separate from controls, and that was my mic drop moment of the episode. A credit union can build every control it wants, but if a member unknowingly hands over a reauthentication code, the control is weakened. When members know what to look out for, the control can work at its full strength. That’s why PSECU treats education as both awareness and protection. The member is part of the control, and our job is to make sure they know it.
From a newsletter to the Fraud Files videos
PSECU used to send a newsletter called the Fraud Files. Amanda gives full credit to the marketing team, who studied how much engagement it was getting and noticed that members responded far more to video and storytelling. An earlier senior fraud forum, where a member shared how she almost lost $100,000 before the package was intercepted and the money recovered, showed how much people relate to real stories. I told Amanda I was hooked from the first video. The takeaway for any fraud team is to meet members in the format they actually watch, and a close partnership with marketing is how you get there.
Protecting privacy and removing shame
PSECU anonymizes every story. The member’s name and exact dollar amount change, but the facts stay close enough to the real situation to teach something. Amanda was clear about the tone as well. The series is built with empathy, and someone watching may be able to connect that the same thing just happened to them. She described the real environment where these scams land, a person who is busy with kids, behind on bills, and feeling pressure to get something done by 10:00 when a text arrives at 9:00. Internally, everyone was on board because the bigger risk is acting like fraud doesn’t happen. Her advice to other institutions is to work with legal and marketing and find the version of the story that respects privacy and treats the member with dignity.
A job scam, told the way it feels
The episode opens with a story from the series about a long-time member who recently lost her job. She connected with someone through social media and a messaging app, and after a few weeks of conversation was offered an easy way to earn money. She received a check for nearly $10,000, overnighted and made out to her, and was told to deposit it by mobile deposit and coordinate shipping equipment through the employer’s logistics company. Once the funds looked available, she sent money to the company and used the rest for bills. The check came back fictitious, leaving a negative balance and a total loss of $9,500. She had also shared her online banking credentials, and there was a login from outside her area. The red flags are being paid before doing any work, being told to deposit a check and send money onward, and being asked for banking credentials. PSECU’s advice is to pause, look up the company on its official website, search the name alongside words like scam or complaint, talk to someone you trust, and contact the credit union before moving any money.
What frontline teams can notice, and what changed
Amanda reminded me that frontline team members are never just a teller, and I loved hearing her say it. A member excited about a new job might ask how soon they can withdraw funds from a check. That’s a chance for a friendly question like how they heard about the opportunity, which works much better than a box-checking script. I shared my own Mary Kay story, where a customer sent a check for far more than the product cost and wanted the difference back. Amanda pointed to the two things that protected her, healthy skepticism and someone knowledgeable she could ask. Since the series launched, people are talking about scams again, employees have more patience for members who fall for them, and one coworker told Amanda that her mom spotted the warning signs and stopped a loss. Amanda’s message to anyone carrying embarrassment is that fraudsters study people for a living. Don’t blame yourself, learn from it, and ask for help early.
### Key takeaways
A real story can show what a scam feels like while it’s happening, which a list of red flags can’t.
Member education works as both awareness and a fraud control, because a control weakens when members unknowingly share codes.
Impostor scams are getting more detailed, and fraudsters now coach victims to answer financial institution questions in ways that avoid controls.
Job scams begin with something people genuinely need, and the request for money often comes only after weeks of trust building.
Being paid before working, depositing a large check, sending money onward, and sharing banking credentials are job scam red flags.
Funds can appear available before a check is verified, leaving a member with a negative balance and a real loss
Anonymized stories need to stay close enough to the facts to teach while protecting member privacy and dignity.
Collaboration with marketing and legal makes fraud storytelling possible at a financial institution.
Frontline employees can bring fraud prevention into ordinary conversation by asking friendly questions about a new job or a check.
Sharing these stories has improved empathy inside PSECU and helped members talk openly about scams.
### Final takeaway
Fraud statistics tell us how big the problem is. Stories tell us who is living through it. When a financial institution is willing to share what happened, and members are willing to listen, shame gives way to awareness and one person’s experience becomes protection for the next. Amanda’s message to members is the one I’d like every credit union to repeat. Ask us the question before you move the money. We would much rather hear from you early than help you recover afterward.
Episode resources & links
Want more fraud fighting in your inbox? Subscribe to The Monday Fraud Fix. My weekly newsletter with the trends, stories, and takeaways I’m paying attention to. Subscribe here.
Watch PSECU’s Fraud Files on YouTube
More fraud prevention tips at psecu.com/fraud
Connect with Amanda Balmer | LinkedIn
Director of Financial Crimes, PSECU
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