PHOENIX — The big, emerging trend in fraud mitigation andprevention now is taking steps to stay on top of cross-channel fraud, said speakers on a panel at the BAIPayments Connect conference.

Tim Brady, a Capital One fraud expert, explained thatincreasingly when crooks take over an account, they are closelyexamining the many banking relationships the victim has and theyare seeking to suck money out of all of them. Are there lines ofcredit that can be tapped? A savings account that is linked tochecking? “They become the customer and they are seeking to takeover all those relationships,” Brady told the panel at the Phoenixgathering

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Kevin Thomsen, a Citigroup fraud expert, also observed that today'scriminals are so sophisticated that they have many more user nameand password combinations than they know what to do with, so theyare using screen scraping tools to gather insights into how muchvarious victims have in their accounts. Then they focus theirenergies on those with the richest balances.

As for defenses at the institutional level, panelist NanetteHilley, anexecutive with SunTrust, said at the Monday afternoon session:“It's about a layered approach. No one layer will be 100% effective” – butthrow enough layers of defense against criminals who are“increasingly sophisticated” and the chances the financialinstitution will stay safe mount.

Brady also stressed that winning the fraud wars involves“engaging with the customer.” That means enlisting customersas allies in the fight and helping educate them about dangerousbehaviors.

A point of difference emerged on this panel when Capital One'sBrady indicated his institution sometimes held customers –especially commercial accounts – responsible for theirlosses. Thomsen said that at Citi, “we always make thecustomer whole.”

Later, in an informal interview during a conference break, Bradyindicated that the customers who were asked to cover their ownlosses tended to have “redundant instances of fraud.” Bradyadded that in other cases Capital One might cover the customer'slosses but seek to terminate the relationship.