Fraud Prevention and Security
The Fraud Prevention and Security domain tests how a teller spots and stops fraud at the window. Questions cover check fraud, counterfeit currency, identity theft, phishing and social engineering, account takeover, elder fraud, and security procedures.
Core rules
- Verify the person and the instrument separately. A valid-looking ID does not make a check valid.
- Check security features: watermark, security thread, microprinting, color-shifting ink, and raised print. For currency, feel, tilt, and look; a pen is only one indicator.
- Compare the check's payee, amount, date, and endorsement with the transaction. Watch for altered payee names, discolored paper, uneven print, and a mismatched MICR line.
- Be wary of urgency, secrecy, overpayment, and instructions to send funds to a new payee. These are social-engineering signals.
- Place holds per policy when funds are not verified; do not release funds because a caller says the check is good.
- Escalate suspected elder exploitation, account takeover, or counterfeit items to security and file a SAR when appropriate.
Worked example
A customer presents a $2,500 check drawn on a distant bank, payable to a third party who is not present, and asks for cash. The endorsement is a stamped signature. Verify identity and check whether the customer is authorized. Call the issuing bank using a number from your institution's source, not the number printed on the check. If verification fails or policy prohibits third-party cashing, decline politely and refer to the manager. Document the event and consider a SAR; do not accuse the customer.
Traps that cost marks
Trusting caller ID as authentication, cashing a check before verification, accepting a corrected amount without initials, and letting urgency override hold rules are common traps.