New Research: Repeated Exposure to Fraud Awareness Education Reduces Susceptibility to Investment Scams

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently concluded a study on the effectiveness of fraud prevention education. In the April 2021 study, the FINRA Foundation proved that repeated exposure to fraud awareness education reduces susceptibility to scams.

Approaches that include repeated exposure to targeted educational content may be most effective in increasing an individual’s ability to spot and avoid financial fraud, which may result in meaningfully reducing its occurrence.

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Account Takeover Roundtable

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently published Regulatory Notice 21-18 about roundtable discussions with 20 firms of various sizes and business models concerning customer account takeover incidents.

Based on the Notice, FINRA encourages the efforts to provide educational materials about cybersecurity threats frequently, including during the onboarding process, through periodic email or text alerts to customers, and online through a website.

Firms noted that they educated and trained their customers on account security by:

• including cybersecurity-related materials in the client onboarding process;
• providing up-to-date cybersecurity information;
• including on the firm’s website resources—such as alerts—that customers can opt in to receiving, such as email or SMS text messages for certain types of account activity; and
• adding educational content to statements of older investors.

Industry Quotes

"Customer education is only effective if it is continuous. It's not one and done." ~ American Bankers Association

"Train employees on an ongoing basis."~ AICPA

"Financial institutions should implement an enhanced customer education to increase awareness of the fraud risk and effective techniques customers can use to mitigate the risk." ~ FFIEC

"Consumer education is critical...Publish details of localized scams via online banking websites. Scam alerts can be powerful tools in educating your client base." ~ FICO

"One easy way to curb this fraud is through more education and awareness." ~ Department of Justice

"Develop an awareness framework that challenges, educates and empowers your customers and employees to be part of the human firewall." ~ FS-ISAC

"Teach your older members: When fraud comes knocking, don't answer." ~ NCUA

"The FDIC encourages financial institutions, government agencies, consumer organizations, educators, the media, and anyone else to help make the tips and information in FDIC Consumer News widely available." ~ FDIC

"FinCEN strongly supports efforts to raise awareness of elder abuse -particularly financial exploitation of the elderly." ~ FinCEN

"Develop and distribute fraud prevention resources and conduct outreach." ~ FINRA

"The banking industry should leverage anti-fraud resources to help customers protect themselves." ~ American Banking Association

"Employee and customer education is the key...the problem many institutions face, however, relates to lacking resources and dedicated support for truly integrated educational campaigns and programs." ~ Financial Services Roundtable

"Armed with the right knowledge, almost anyone can recognize a fraudulent scheme and make the right decision to stay away." ~ United States Postal Inspector Service

"People are often seen as the weakest link when it comes to cyber security, but that must change." ~ UK National Cyber Security Centre