Preventing Account Takeovers by Cryptocurrency Fraudsters

A new criminal target.

Credit unions are under constant pressure to prevent fraud, and the latest threat comes from the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain. For the newly initiated, crypto is digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange – buying, selling and transferring – through a computer network. Crypto has been around for years and, despite recent news coverage to the contrary, it’s not going away. In fact, consumer research conducted by Fiserv indicated that 61% of Gen Z and millennial survey respondents want their bank or credit union to hold cryptocurrency.

And therein lies the risk associated with crypto and fraudsters who operate in this environment. Funding a crypto account requires users to link it to a sourcing account that requires a connection to a non-crypto financial instrument or account. In this case, that would be a credit union member’s account.