4 ways to help your members fight fraud-phobia
Discussing fraud with your credit union members can feel like walking a tightrope. Too much “Don’t Worry About It” gets you complacent members, but too much “Pay Attention” leads to panic and shame. You want your members to be informed and aware, but able to trust that the credit union has their back.
The problem is that more information is not always better. There are simply too many examples of fraud and scams to dump on your members all at once. It’s easy to overwhelm people with a stressful topic, so you have to be careful and intentional about how you communicate.
Here are four ways to communicate about fraud and scams with your members, without setting off every alarm bell in their brain.
The “Which one is real?” Game
People love a challenge and any school teacher can tell you making difficult subjects into a game greatly increases participation and engagement.
There are a lot of ways to do this. You could create ‘spot the difference’ quizzes for social media, emails or your newsletter. Show a real message from the credit union next to a phishing attempt with the prompt “Can you spot the imposter?”
These don’t have to be overly complicated either. Focus on a suspicious email address this week, and something else next. You’re helping your members build muscle memory for identifying red flags, so you don’t have to show every possible example at once.
A look behind the curtain
Part of fraud-phobia is not knowing how protected you really are. Talking about the CU’s fraud detection tools will help to demystify the process, and help your members see there are real people protecting them.
Obviously you don’t want to advertise exactly how your security systems work, or do anything else that would give scammers an edge. But even just knowing that the system flags a weird 3am purchase can help members sleep at night.
Leverage the concept of a “Community Watch”
One of the core ideas behind credit unions is “people helping people.” If you frame your messaging and fraud-prevention tips as a community effort, it shifts the focus from personal fear to community involvement.
Instead of “Seniors beware!” you end up with something like, “We’re helping our seniors this month, so here’s how you can help protect your parents.” This can turn fraud prevention tips from a source of fear into a helpful public service announcement.
Reward members with good habits
Most of the time, members only see fraud messaging because something has gone wrong. You can change the narrative by recognizing good habits instead. Make sure members who change to stronger passwords or enable 2-factor authentication get a special “thank you” message. Validating fraud-aware behavior helps members feel like they’re making a good choice, instead of their actions being motivated by fear.
Don’t forget the other tools at your disposal
As you communicate with members about fraud and scams, the most important message is how the credit union has them covered. Your credit union website is a great tool to help members learn more about fraud and scams, as long as you don’t cover your homepage in big, scary fraud alerts. Normalizing fraud awareness includes giving it a normal place to exist on your website, and putting it where panicking members might look, such as in the search field.
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