Fraud rarely announces itself with one obvious event. It could start with a small, unfamiliar debit card charge or an urgent wire request. Those warnings may reach different teams or even a vendor. Without holistic visibility, that separation gives fraud room to grow into a more serious attack. To successfully battle these attacks, community banks need one connected response across cards, payments, cybersecurity, operations and frontline teams. Uncovering the underlying pattern behind the losses helps financial institutions prevent future attacks. A card test, a phishing email and a payment request can appear in different systems while belonging to the same attack. Teams need a way to connect those signals before individual small tests turn into a significantly larger loss. The sooner the silos between teams break down, the better their chance of stopping the activity before the fraud web gets too tangled. DON’T IGNORE SMALL FRAUD ATTEMPTS — THEY’RE A TEST Small fraud attempts are often written off as mistakes, but overlooking them can give cybercriminals a green light for bolder actions. These small-dollar charges are known as card testing, when the holder of stolen card info makes small purchases — often $1 or less — to verify which cards still work. However, victims don’t need to have their card info deliberately stolen as a one-off hacking attempt to fall prey. These smaller amounts add up quickly across thousands of accounts. Alloy’s 2026 State of Fraud Report found that 22% of financial institutions and fintechs lost over $5 million to fraud in 2025. Another 45% reported losses between $1.5 million and $5 million. Together, these numbers become significant. Once the pattern appears, there are four steps to take in response: 1. Slow the attempts. Apply velocity checks and rate limits. 2. Confirm the pattern. Look for spikes in declines, low-dollar attempts and repeated BIN activity. 3. Contain the range. Temporarily limit affected BINs while investigating. 4. Reduce future risk. Review cardnumber patterns and establish clear escalation and reporting processes. Visa recommends velocity controls and other measures to disrupt automated testing, with alerts shared across fraud monitoring teams. DRAFT PLANS BEFORE A CYBERATTACK BECOMES A PAYMENT CRISIS A cyberattack doesn’t stay confined to a specific system for long. Ransomware and phishing can expose credentials and pressure employees into approving fraudulent activity. MAKE RANSOMWARE DECISIONS IN ADVANCE Ransomware locks up systems, blocking access to or encrypting data, often followed by a hefty payment demand. You don’t want to make those critical decisions under pressure. Be ready before an incident occurs by preparing your response in these four stages: 1. Prevent and detect. Patch systems, train employees, require multifactor authentication, limit access and monitor for threats. 2. Protect recovery. Maintain offline, encrypted backups and regularly test restoration processes, as recommended by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). 3. Make decisions early. Establish roles, payment authority and legal and OFAC sanctions review before an incident occurs. 4. Report on time. Banks generally have 36 hours to notify their primary federal regulator, while federally insured credit unions generally have up to 72 hours. SPOT SPEAR PHISHING WHEN IT’S BUILT TO LOOK LEGITIMATE Phishing messages try to persuade someone to share information or take an unsafe action. Spear phishing is more targeted. It may reference a real executive, vendor, payment process Fraud Warning Signs and How Heeding Them Prevents Larger Losses By PANKAJ SARDA, SVP of Product Management, Enterprise Core Banking Solutions, CSI 14 WEST VIRGINIA BANKER
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