September 22, 2025, 5:50 PM, Commercial Times, Huang Zhifang
Recently, a banker at a well-known bank branch lost control after conducting an unusual customer check, slammed a table, and attempted to jump. Fortunately, a colleague quickly restrained him, averting tragedy. This case further illustrates that the financial industry is not only investing more manpower, material resources, and even financial resources to prevent fraud and prevent customer deception, but it also seems to be experiencing increasing pressure and resistance. After all, the global financial order has been significantly shaken by financial crime. We must understand that when banks identify unusual accounts through model analysis, they are not identifying customers as criminals, but rather identifying customers who may be at high risk of being exploited. Suspending electronic transactions simply encourages customers to clarify at the teller whether their funds and account passwords have been compromised or controlled by others. The financial industry is facing a critical transformation, shifting from a focus on “fast service” to one where “protecting customer assets is paramount.”
While re-clarifying unusual accounts may cause temporary inconvenience for customers, it’s crucial to ensure they haven’t been defrauded or exploited. Past data shows that banks with fewer customer complaints have more alert accounts, and vice versa. UK banks are currently collaborating to combat fraud through the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) initiative, an intelligence-sharing program targeting threats to financial institutions. The UK has relaxed regulations allowing banks to share anti-fraud intelligence to jointly combat fraud. In its initial phase, the program has already taken action against thousands of accounts linked to fraudsters and deleted approximately 20,000 accounts based on shared data. The program will continue to include more banks to strengthen fraud detection capabilities and create a safer digital environment for customers in the UK and globally.
Not only are bankers emphasizing intelligence sharing; Meta has also joined the collaborative initiative, taking regulatory action against thousands of social media accounts operated by fraudsters, demonstrating the importance of banks and social platforms working together to address this social issue. Meta’s Head of Fraud said, “Fraud can only be defeated by working together and sharing relevant information. Financial institutions can share de-identified information with Meta, using it to train systems and take more global anti-fraud actions.”
A UK pilot program successfully dismantled a large-scale concert ticket fraud network targeting people in the UK and US. Over 20,000 accounts operated by the scammers were removed from 185 shared URLs to reduce victims’ losses. Anyone who had transferred funds to these accounts was potentially a victim and their electronic transactions must be suspended and notified of potential harm. The FIRE program has been well-received in the UK and is considered a key step in combating fraud. We must also accelerate our efforts to protect customers’ assets. Banks, bankers, and police officers must recognize their goal as protecting customers, employ empathy, and develop stronger psychological resilience in these fraud prevention efforts. Otherwise, they themselves will become indirect victims of fraud.
(Contributed by LIN,SHU-LI, Assistant Professor of the Department of Criminal Justice at Ming Chuan University)