Debra’s 2 Cents

Who Can You Trust to Have a Policy of Truth?

Fraud in our profession is committed often by a third-party thief and sometimes, I am sorry to say, by or with the help of our customers.

Fraud is so much on bankers’, regulators’, advocates’ and consumers’ minds, especially during the holiday months. I ran across the song Policy of Truth by Depeche Mode. I am not very familiar with Depeche Mode. I recollect the band’s name because of its uniqueness, but it pretty much stops there. However, my interest in the band increaWsed when Policy of Truth popped up in my Google search for information about increased fraudulent activity. In part, the lyrics read:

It’s just time to pay the price For not listening to advice And deciding in your youth On the policy of truth

Believe it or not, there is quite a bit of interpretive writing based on the lyrics to this song…most saying that it advocates for truth in all cases as a moral stance. Wouldn’t that be nice if it were practiced—except in cases when I ask if this dress makes me look fat, but that is a column for a different day.

Fraud is the ultimate untruth. Fraud in our profession is committed often by a third-party thief and sometimes, I am sorry to say, by or with the help of our customers.

Despite banks’ best efforts, we still see “handymen” ripping off homeowners for work never done; caregivers convincing elderly or the disabled to hand over unnecessary cash for “expenses”; lottery prizes that require a payment of “taxes” before the prize can be released; and even the never ending “love interest” scammer who just needs a bit of cash to get out of a tight spot so that he or she can join their “true” love. Regardless of how much we try to educate consumers on these scams and fraud, people still fall for them. For these examples the victim is usually elderly, lonely, uneducated or naïve.

But there are cases of fraud that impact banks more directly, often without any ability for the bank to stop it, and the numbers are growing.

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