With payments fraud on the rise, the Federal Reserve has released two new toolkits: the Scams Mitigation Toolkit (Off-site) and Check Fraud Mitigation Toolkit (Off-site). As online repositories of insights and downloadable resources, the toolkits are intended to support education and increase awareness about scams and check fraud, enable the payments industry to better identify and fight them, and foster industry collaboration on fraud and scams mitigation. These toolkits complement a Synthetic Identity Payments Fraud Toolkit (Off-site) that was released in 2022.
Scams and check fraud are prevalent forms of fraud that negatively impact individuals and organizations alike. Education on these topics can make a real difference, helping the payments industry, businesses and consumers in countering the deceptive efforts of bad actors.
Vice President of Payments Improvement
Federal Reserve Financial Services
The initial releases of the Scams Mitigation Toolkit and Check Fraud Mitigation Toolkit focus on building foundational knowledge about different types of scams and check fraud; the tactics and human vulnerabilities that often enable these to succeed; and common scenarios that financial institutions, service providers, other businesses and individuals may encounter. In the fourth quarter of 2025, second releases of these two toolkits will offer additional insights and resources.
For more information, visit FedPaymentsImprovement.org (Off-site).
These toolkits were developed by the Federal Reserve to help educate the industry about scams and check fraud. Insights for these toolkits were provided through interviews with industry experts, publicly available research and tea m member expertise. The toolkits are not intended to result in any regulatory or reporting requirements, imply any liabilities for fraud loss, or confer any legal status, legal definitions, or legal rights or responsibilities. While use of these toolkits throughout the industry is encouraged, their utilization is voluntary at the discretion of each individual entity. Absent written consent, the toolkits may not be used in a manner that suggests the Federal Reserve endorses a third-party product or service.
