Combined with Mitek Check Fraud Defender, Mitek delivers real-time detection, expert-led strategy, and shared intelligence-an approach that's not just smart, it's necessary

While strong relationship banking makes credit unions and community banks "uniquely positioned to prevent, detect, and mitigate customer fraud," these and other small- and mid-size financial institutions (FIs) undoubtedly sustain outsize check fraud losses; reasons range from technology constraints to overly easy account opening processes at their own and larger institutions. In a 2024 industry report, 79% of credit union and community bank leaders said their institutions' fraud losses exceeded $500,000 in 2023.

In tumultuous economic times, criminals are exploiting uncertainty. They are moving far faster to perpetrate check fraud than task forces and industry working groups can propose new ways to fight it.

Mitek offers banks of all sizes its industry-leading check fraud detection solution, Mitek Check Fraud Defender (CFD), optionally complemented by Mitek Fraud Strategy as a Service (FSaaS). CFD is a highly secure, cloud-based solution that can be rapidly deployed to detect up to 90% and more of fraudulent checks. It is available as a self-managed solution, as well as in combination with Fraud Strategy as a Service. FSaaS takes partnership to a new level, providing a consultative service that enhances CFD with Mitek's deep expertise and best practices, helping each customer organization develop the right fraud strategy, rulesets and analytics, and the most effective processes. While institutions of any size can leverage FSaas with CFD, credit unions, community banks, and regional banks can use it to overcome resource and technology hurdles, and quickly achieve transformative reductions in check fraud losses--a critical need as check fraud losses continue to mount.

Expertise and shared intelligence drive ongoing results

FSaas with CFD takes Mitek customers' check fraud detection capabilities to the next level, going above and beyond basic metrics such as volume of checks reviewed, or holding total losses to a specified threshold. In delivering FSaaS, Mitek works closely with each institution to develop customized check fraud strategies and rulesets that can raise CFD's detection rates to 90% and higher.

When any institution uses CFD they join Mitek's CFD consortium, gaining access to a wealth of nationwide check and transaction data from thousands of banks. Consortium data helps them to use their own data more effectively than ever. But rich data and baseline strategies are no longer enough. Importantly, Mitek works with customers using FSaas with CFD to review outcomes regularly, analyzing current fraud strategies and adjusting them as fraud vectors move. In this way, FSaaS helps institutions stay on top of emerging fraud patterns and sustain real-time check fraud detection.

Customized for unique needs

Critically, FSaas with CFD is a customized solution that combines CFD's market-proven core functionality with the configurable fraud detection strategies and rulesets of Mitek's FSaaS offering. That's what gives Check Fraud Defender the flexibility to detect check fraud with equal efficacy, in real-time, at the largest Tier 1 banks as well as at community banks and credit unions with much lower volumes.

For example, check fraud outbreaks that can plague Tier 1 banks, such as viral "Chase Glitch," have very different characteristics than a local fraud ring. Similarly, fraudsters' behavioral patterns for small-dollar check fraud (under $1,000) are different than those for crimes involving high-value checks, which are typically perpetrated with stolen business checks. Fraud rings may vary the tactics they use to target credit unions and small banks with those used to defraud large banks. In today's highly collaborative criminal underworld, all of these fraud vectors are in constant flux.

Catching check fraud in real-time

With CFD, any check a financial institution deposits is analyzed across the consortium according to its individual specifications. Check Fraud Defender can quickly identify fraudulent items by analyzing the check image itself, extracting all data elements along with 24 distinct image attributes, and comparing results to check profiles in the CFD consortium.

Then, for customers choosing to enhance CFD with FSaaS, Mitek combines industry-leading image analysis with fraud analytics tuned to their specific parameters, searching for fraud in the context of per-item and/or total-dollar loss limits. This supercharged approach allows institutions to realize extremely granular check fraud detection capabilities along the lines of, "This item presents potential Treasury check fraud risk. It's made out for XYZ dollars and will be pushed to the fraud operations team for review"--in short, Mitek can deliver powerful real-time detection capabilities that stop more bad checks prior to post.

Addressing multiple urgent needs

With FSaas and CFD, credit unions, community banks and regional banks can achieve multiple important goals to:

• Dramatically reduce check fraud. Institutions with FSaaS and Check Fraud Defender in production report reductions in check fraud losses of up to 90% and more.
• Conquer resource constraints. With tight technology and personnel budgets, investing in legacy payment types like checks can be a challenge for smaller financial institutions. FSaas with CFD brings to these organizations the same caliber of detection capabilities used by Tier 1 banks, without the need to hire data scientists or more fraud professionals.
• Provide a world-class customer experience. Real-time check fraud detection helps protect customers from devastating losses by reducing risk at the point of deposit; anything less is a disservice in today's competitive retail banking environment.

Whether your organization is a credit union, community bank, regional bank or a national Tier 1 financial institution, Mitek can be your partner in transforming your check fraud detection capabilities; Fraud Strategy as a Service and Check Fraud Defender can greatly accelerate your time to achieve lower fraud losses and higher customer satisfaction, at a lower cost than alternative approaches.

Learn more about Mitek Check Fraud Defender here