On June 20, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced they are seeking public input on questions related to payments fraud. This Request for Information (RFI) asked interested stakeholders to comment on ways that the OCC, the FRB, and the FDIC could take actions collectively or independently to help consumers, businesses, and financial institutions mitigate check, automated clearing house (ACH), wire, and instant payments fraud. Comments are due September 18, 2025.
The RFI defines "payments fraud" as "the use of illegal means, including intentional deception, misrepresentation, or manipulation, to make or receive payments for personal gain." The term "payments fraud" also includes scams, a subset of fraud.
The RFI seeks comments on five potential areas for improvement and collaboration that could help mitigate payments fraud:
- External collaboration to address payments fraud;
- Payments fraud education for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and other industry stakeholders;
- Regulation and supervision, including changes to Regulation CC and regulatory guidance on payments fraud (although the RFI does not solicit comments on changes to Regulation E);
- Promoting improved payments fraud data collection and information sharing; and
- Additional changes to Federal Reserve Banks' operator tools and check processing, ACH transfers, instant payments, and wire services to reduce payments fraud.
Commenters are invited to respond to the following general questions related to payments fraud:
- What types of payments fraud have most impacted your organization and its stakeholders? What tactics have criminals employed when perpetrating these types of payments fraud?
- What measures, including technological solutions or services, have been most effective in identifying, preventing, and mitigating payments fraud at your institution? Are there actions that consumers can take that help institutions? For example, do financial institutions find it helpful when consumers alert the institution in advance when making large purchases, transferring large amounts of money, and traveling abroad?
- To the extent not already addressed, are there other actions that would support stakeholders in identifying, preventing, and mitigating payments fraud?
- Are there specific actions that commenters believe could encourage the use of payment methods with strong security features?
Payments fraud has been on regulatory radar for the past several years. Last November, FinCEN published an alert on fraud schemes using generative artificial intelligence to circumvent financial institutions' identity verification, authentication, and due diligence controls.
The limitations on fraud protection under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E have also drawn attention. Consumer-authorized transactions where a consumer is scammed into sending money to a fraudster are not considered "unauthorized electronic fund transfers" covered by the Regulation E protections for unauthorized transfers because the consumer initiated the transfer.
Instead of enacting new laws to address these financial crimes, some Democratic Senators have conducted hearings and letter- writing campaigns to influence voluntary changes at Zelle and other payment providers. In November 2023, Zelle changed its Network Rules to require financial institutions that transfer funds on the Zelle Network to reverse transfers for senders who are victims of certain scams, likely in response to regulatory pressure from the CFPB, FDIC, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Early last year, Democratic Senators pressured Zelle and other payment apps to change their fraud policies. In December 2024, just prior to the Trump Administration taking office, the CFPB filed a lawsuit against Zelle alleging they failed to protect consumers from widespread fraud; however, the CFPB's new leadership dismissed the case in early March.
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