SANTA CLARA, Calif. —The $700-million APL Federal Credit Union said it prevented an $80,000 wire fraud attempt after using video verification to confirm a suspicious transaction, protecting a member who had already lost more than $1.2 million to fraud at another financial institution.
The attempted fraud began when an $80,000 wire request appeared in the credit union’s online system accompanied by documentation that initially appeared legitimate. A payment support specialist flagged the transaction after noticing the funds were being sent to an individual rather than a title company. When the caller’s voice did not match the member’s profile and the person resisted video verification, APL FCU halted the wire.
Three days later, the member contacted the credit union and confirmed he had recently been the victim of a seven-figure wire fraud elsewhere. The member credited APL FCU’s controls with preventing further losses during what the credit union described as a broader, multi-institution fraud effort.
APL FCU said it has incorporated risk-based video verification--through Eltropy Video Banking--into its wire-transfer process, requiring video confirmation for wires above certain dollar thresholds when funds are being sent to third-party recipients.
“One of the rules we implemented when we took on the video portion of Eltropy was: any wires over a certain monetary amount to a third-party beneficiary will always require video verification,” said Denise Webster, accounting manager at APL FCU. “This approach doesn't force staff to justify every video verification request; the policy does that for them.”
The verification process typically takes only a few minutes but is designed to add friction that deters fraud attempts.
“At the end of the day, we're protecting our members and the credit union from loss,” Webster said. “Once the money is gone from a wire or Zelle transaction, it's gone.”
Vice President of Lending Sean Manion said the investment in video verification has expanded beyond its original lending use case.
“All we need is one big loss to offset such a cost-effective tool,” he said. “I went into it thinking that this solution would help lending, and it's just morphed into something so much bigger.”
Eltropy Co-founder and CEO Ashish Garg said APL FCU’s experience highlights the role video interactions can play in stopping fraud.
“What happened at APL FCU shows why video verification matters – it gave their team the ability to act decisively on their instincts and stop a catastrophe,” Garg said. “The fraudsters couldn't bypass that face-to-face moment of truth, and an $80,000 loss became an $80,000 save instead.”