Independent Banker - June 2021 - 21

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City. " You want to be able to correlate
data on the customer and their
accounts. What is normal for them?
What could be seen as abnormal? "
For example, what if a new
beneficiary was added to a senior's
account shortly before a large sum of
money was withdrawn? That could
be legitimate, such as if an adult child
was added to a sick parent's account
and started handling their bills. But
to be on the safe side, a bank could
set a rule that triggers an alert for this
combination of activities, and then the
fraud team could investigate.
Despite the technology behind
this strategy, this kind of crime
spotting isn't new, Agarwal says.
" The technology isn't there to replace
human beings but to augment the
intelligence of a person, " he adds. " It
provides the amount of information
that it would take us eight to 10 hours
to put together. [Data analytics] help
that individual make that decision
faster and spend less time doing the
manual task of gathering information. "
Work with a trusted vendor
M&F Bank added data analytics
technology in 2020 specifically to
sniff out elder fraud. Since 2010, the
$309 million-asset bank in Durham,
N.C., has used Verafin, a financial
crime management platform based
in St. John's, Canada. When the
company rolled out analytics for
detecting elder financial abuse,
M&F Bank implemented that, too.
" With elder financial abuse alerts,
we take a look at the vulnerability of
the person by looking at age, " says
Valerie Quiett, M&F Bank's senior vice
president and chief legal officer. " The
analytics also look at whether your
spending habits have changed. Maybe
you're spending more money than you
have in the past. "
Analytics can take into account
changes in how customers interact
" [Elder financial abuse] is probably one of the
most underreported crimes in the country. While
the numbers we have are large and significant,
it's probably just a fraction of the reality. "
-DAVID LENOIR, SENIOR HOUSING CRIME PREVENTION FOUNDATION
with the bank, like suddenly moving
from in-person transactions to doing
everything online, she adds.
The M&F Bank team reviews alerts
on a daily basis. When the system
flags a potential elder financial abuse
case, they research the case, contact
the branch and then reach out to
the customer.
" We want to make sure we're seeing
what the customer intended to do
and make sure the customer is not a
victim, " Quiett says.
Preventing fraud before it starts
Analytics can be used to stop another
facet of elder financial abuse: identity
theft, which is the act of taking over
existing accounts or stealing personal
information to create fraudulent
accounts in their name.
A 2020 Javelin report sponsored by
Prevent elder
financial abuse
The Senior Housing Crime
Prevention Foundation
partners with banks to thwart
elder abuse while offering
Community Reinvestment
Act credit opportunities.
shcpfoundation.org
AARP found that seniors are less likely
to adopt new technology, which means
they are also less likely to use fraud
prevention technologies. It also found
that criminals are still using low-tech
methods, such as calling potential
victims, and are adopting pandemicrelated
tactics.
Data analytics can determine if an
account is being opened legitimately
or fraudulently, says Thomas French,
advisory industry consultant for fraud
and security intelligence at SAS in
Charlotte, N.C. " At the moment that a
device hits the community bank website,
there is a set of information coming in
from that device, " he says. " Third-party
vendors can capture that information
and start to do data analytics behind it. "
Analytics can determine everything
from what type of device is being used
and if it has malware, to whether the
user is accessing the website from
the bank's region or another country,
French says.
Analytics can also pull information
from multiple security vendors, bring
the data together and identify which
applications in a senior's name need
more information or should be denied.
This behind-the-scenes work saves
seniors and their loved ones from the
hassle of securing the account-and
gives them peace of mind. 
Jen A. Miller is a writer in New Jersey.
independentbanker.org Q 21
http://www.shcpfoundation.org http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - June 2021

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