Top U.S. Credit Union Disrupts Cybercrime Network and Realizes 95% Reduction in Residual Zelle Fraud Losses in Two Months

A top U.S. credit union became the target of an advanced cybercrime network soon after launching Zelle payments for its mobile banking members in August 2019. They immediately saw a spike to 700 basis points of fraud which means 7% of their total Zelle transaction volume was fraud. They reacted by putting in additional multi-factor authentication (MFA) and other controls, such as limits on Zelle transfer amounts, which helped reduce fraud considerably. However, this caused a big impact on customer experience as members’ access to the payment network and its full functionality were limited.

After realizing how customer experience was impacted by these new controls, the credit union realized that they needed a long-term solution that could significantly reduce fraud to acceptable levels while giving them the confidence to provide customers with full access to the Zelle payment network. They implemented behavioral biometrics on top of the controls they had in place and immediately saw a significant reduction in residual fraud losses and gained deep insights into the cybercrime gang that had been targeting its members. The solution provided an effective control from day one.